Gaza’s dental crisis: families forced to choose between treating their teeth and feeding their children
Liza Hassouna writes in The New Arab on 24 September 2026:
For many families in Gaza, a visit to the dentist is no longer simply about treating a painful tooth. It has become a question of whether they can afford to pay for treatment or whether that money is needed for food, shelter and other basic necessities as Israel’s genocidal war continues across the Strip.
As a dentist, I see this every day at the International Dental Centre in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp, one of Gaza’s busiest and most crowded camps, where displaced Palestinians are supposed to be safe.
One of the patients I see is 38-year-old Maha El Masry, a mathematics teacher who previously worked on a temporary contract with UNRWA. When I examine her painful teeth, I can see the exhaustion on her face. But instead of asking whether her teeth can be saved, she asks me one question: how much will the treatment cost?
Maha lost her job after UNRWA contracts were suspended during Israel’s war. She has also been displaced from Sheikh Radwan to Deir al-Balah, while several of her teeth have begun causing her severe pain.
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I know that Maha’s teeth can still be saved through root canal treatment followed by crowns, but the estimated cost is around $1,200. For her, that is far beyond what she can afford. “I am forced to consider a cheaper alternative: extraction,” Maha notes.