Dental patients in Gaza: another face of suffering

Inside a clinic in Gaza City, dentist Hassan Miqdad continues to treat his patients despite the severe shortage of resources caused by the Israeli blockade and the destruction of warehouses during the war.

Three years after the war, clinics in the Gaza Strip are left with virtually no resources, according to Miqdad. In a report by Al Jazeera he said he can no longer perform root canals for any patient “because all the supplies in the Strip are expired.”

While medical needs in the Gaza Strip are increasing, dental clinics are facing a critical crisis due to the severe shortage of essential materials, which the Israeli occupation refuses to allow in after destroying warehouses and laboratories.

Thousands of patients are unable to find relief from their pain due to the lack of medicine and supplies, and the scarcity of money resulting from the loss of livelihoods for most of them due to the Israeli war that has crippled the Strip’s economy. Nevertheless, one patient said he can no longer bear the pain of his toothache, despite the exorbitant cost compared to pre-war prices. The situation in dental clinics is no different from that of dental labs, which are suffering from the same shortages due to the blockade, according to Ayman al-Shabrawi. He said he was forced to partially close his lab and lay off two-thirds of his workers, and he expects the lab to close completely unless the occupation authorities allow the entry of supplies.

The occupation has also destroyed a large number of dental clinics and the warehouses that supplied them with dental equipment, according to Muhammad al-Ustad, a member of the Dental Syndicate.

Amid the rubble and the blockade, these clinics are on the verge of shutting down, leaving hundreds of thousands of residents facing unbearable suffering.