The University of Portsmouth's School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry – a state-of-the-art training facility for dental nurses, hygienists and therapists – is working with Portsmouth City Council's Axcess Programme to provide free dental care to children from schools in Paulsgrove, a city ward where an estimated 70% of the population do not regularly visit a dentist.

Portsmouth children are almost half a tooth short of the national average when it comes to oral health, but the University of Portsmouth is helping to alleviate dental deprivation in the city by offering free dental check-ups and treatment to children from deprived sections of the community.

In the most recent clinic, the University provided a bus service for children and parents from Saxon Shore School in Paulsgrove. The children were seen by the school's dentists and student dental therapy assistants.

Meanwhile, the first intake of BSc Dental Hygiene and Therapy students has graduated from the University of Portsmouth. The 16 graduates began their course at the School of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry when it opened in 2004. The school cost £6.4 million to establish and its facilities include a 24-bay treatment clinic, two private surgeries, a phantom head room, radiography suite and general teaching rooms. Three dentists are also employed full-time by the school and students do not have to pay tuition fees as they are fully funded by the NHS.