The oral health charity Dentaid has suffered a major setback following the theft of over half its stock of instruments, destined for charitable projects in the developing world. Despite CCTV and an alarm, thieves broke into the charity's instrument stores late at night last month and stole 21 crates of sorted instruments.

The new and second-hand instruments have almost certainly been stolen for their scrap metal value, following a spate of similar thefts from local businesses in the Salisbury region.

The charity says that whilst the scrap value of these instruments may yield £100 at most from a scrap merchant, for Dentaid to replace these specialist instruments would cost well over £50,000 – a cost the charity cannot afford. Unfortunately, none of the instruments were insured as the massive new for old replacement value of all Dentaid's donated stocks would lead to prohibitive insurance premiums.

Mike Phillips, Dentaid's volunteer instrument coordinator said, “This is a real blow. Last year we supplied instrument kits to dozens of charitable dental projects in Romania, Nepal, India, Zambia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Kenya, The Gambia, Ukraine, Peru, Liberia, China, Sri Lanka and Nicaragua. But following this theft we are desperately short of certain items and within a few months will exhaust our remaining stock. Further projects are in serious jeopardy. The idea that all these instruments have been stolen to be sold for £50 scrap value is heartbreaking.”

Dentaid desperately needs to build up its instrument stocks again and is appealing to dentists who have any dental instruments they no longer require, to please send them to Dentaid at Giles Lane, Landford, Salisbury SP5 2BG. Following the theft, the charity is particularly short of mirrors, luxators, elevators (Lindo Leviens, Warwick James, Cryers) and forceps, but all instruments would be gratefully received. The charity is also going to need to invest in new physical security to protect its premises further from these type of thefts and potentially buy new instruments to replace those stolen, drawing on financial resources currently budgeted to other projects. If you, your practice or your company would like to contribute financially to either of these causes, please send a cheque to Dentaid at the above address or give online through Dentaid's website at www.dentaid.org. In the unlikely event that an attempt is made to sell the stolen items to practitioners, please get in contact with Dentaid so that the police can be alerted.