GAZA, (PIC)
In a narrow alley in Khan Yunis, Umm Ahmad Al-Arablashi sits clutching her cheek, her face tightened by relentless pain. For days she has barely slept not because of airstrikes or explosions, but because of an infected tooth she has no way to treat.
“I used to go to the government clinic and receive care for free,” she says quietly. “Today there is no clinic. There is no doctor.”
Her story reflects a broader, largely invisible humanitarian emergency unfolding across the Gaza Strip. Beyond the images of destruction and mass casualties lies another form of suffering: untreated pain. Toothaches, infections, and preventable conditions have become daily torment for thousands as Gaza’s dental care system collapses under the weight of war and blockade.
Across town, Mahmoud Jumaa stands before what used to be a 24-hour dental clinic. The building is now reduced to debris, its faded sign still promising “Dental Services” to no one in particular.
“This place never closed,” he recalls. “Now it’s gone. And even when you find a dentist, there are no tools left to work with.”
What has unfolded is not a sudden breakdown but the predictable outcome of sustained destruction targeting civilian infrastructure. Gaza’s healthcare sector, already fragile, has been pushed toward systemic failure, with dental services among the hardest hit.
Healthcare under ruins
Dr. Mohammed Abu Amouna, who supervises dental services in southern Gaza, describes the situation as catastrophic.
According to him, the majority of public and charitable dental clinics, once essential lifelines for low-income families, have ceased operations after being destroyed or severely damaged. Thousands of patients have lost access even to basic examinations or emergency procedures.
Private clinics have fared little better. Many were flattened or rendered unusable, forcing dentists out of practice and leaving entire neighborhoods without care.
Inside one of the few partially functioning clinics, a young dentist works with dwindling supplies, forced to make impossible choices.
“Patients come needing root-canal treatment,” he explains. “But without materials, we cannot save the tooth. Extraction becomes the only option. We are removing teeth that should have been treated.”
The crisis extends far beyond damaged buildings. Essential equipment is scarce, replacement parts are unavailable, and soaring prices make reopening clinics nearly impossible.
A manufactured shortage
The most critical obstacle, according to medical professionals, is the continued restriction on the entry of medical supplies. Dental anesthetics, filling materials, pediatric treatment tools, and prosthetic equipment are either unavailable or nearly exhausted.
Without these basics, modern dental care becomes impossible.
Doctors warn that the remaining services may shut down entirely within weeks if supplies are not allowed to enter.
The consequences are already visible. In a crowded displacement camp, a young child cries uncontrollably while his mother tries to soothe him using home remedies after failing to locate a dentist willing, or able, to help.
“It’s unbearable,” she says. “How can this level of pain exist without any solution?”
The silent humanitarian emergency
Dental pain rarely makes headlines. It does not produce dramatic images or immediate casualty figures. Yet untreated infections can lead to severe complications, chronic illness, and lifelong health consequences especially for children.
Medical professionals warn that Gaza is witnessing not only the destruction of infrastructure but the erosion of basic human dignity: the right to live without preventable suffering.
Dr. Abu Amouna issued an urgent appeal to international organizations and relevant authorities to allow immediate entry of medical equipment and to support the rehabilitation of destroyed healthcare facilities.
Without intervention, he warns, Gaza faces the near-total disappearance of dental services turning ordinary medical conditions into prolonged human suffering.
In Gaza today, even a toothache has become a humanitarian crisis.