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Nuseirat, Gaza 50-year-old Murad Haji sits quietly in a dentist’s chair amid the rubble of the Nuseirat refugee camp in Gaza, waiting for relief from the pain that has plagued him for months.
He clutched his jaw, gripped by a sharp pain. She was given about 400 shekels ($142) in aid – enough to feed her children for four or five days because of the high cost of food. But when the excruciating pain spread from here to his jaw, Haji was forced to return to the dentist’s clinic for treatment.
“I can’t take the pain anymore… but I knew the treatment was more expensive than I could afford,” she says. “Four hundred shekels is a lot… My children need more.”
His dentist, Liza Hassouna, explains how the Israeli siege on Gaza has led to a severe shortage of dental equipment, which drives up the cost of treatment and means that surgeons can operate on teeth at a very high cost.
“Many patients come to us after the disease has progressed because they could not get treatment early,” says Hassouna. “By that time, what would have been an easy process becomes very difficult, painful, and expensive.”
Haji is one of many Palestinians whose limited resources mean that an already difficult life in Gaza is burdened by chronic toothache.
Prolonged treatment often leads to infections that spread to other parts of the body, possibly requiring surgery to treat the condition, but due to financial constraints, many Palestinians have few options.
This is what happened with the Hajj – what initially started as a simple process that could be completed in less than two days turned into an expensive and massive undertaking. That tooth grew into a serious problem, causing swelling in his face, inflammation of the tooth, accumulation of pus and severe pain.
Many patients, like Haji, require painkillers and antibiotics to manage the disease before further intervention, costing money.
Hajj’s story is not unusual, and Hassouna sees patients every day making the difficult choice between medical care and meeting their household needs. Some rely on painkillers or simply deal with the pain until it becomes unbearable.
The doctor says that under economic pressure, patients tend to say that tooth extraction is a cheaper option. However, even the cost of this method has increased significantly.
In Gaza, where the economy is about to be destroyed by Israel’s terrorist war on the ground, this method is impossible for many, and it will not be enough if the disease has already spread.
Hassouna says her job is not only about helping with treatment but also about constantly trying to balance medical needs with limited resources.
What is driving the price hike in Gaza is Israel’s restrictions on imports, which often classify dental equipment and weapons as “junk” or “jewelry”.
In high-demand low-cost options, local suppliers have full control over pricing, which directly affects hospitals’ ability to provide consistent, cost-effective care.
Hospital manager Dr Nidal al-Sindi is also faced with a daily challenge between his professional duties and the ability to support his dental surgeries. Rising costs of rent, medical care, and basic equipment have caused the hospital to overspend.
For example, a box of painkillers has increased from about 150 shekels ($53) to about 500 shekels ($178), while “Zeta Plus”, used for dental treatment, has risen from about 150 shekels ($53) to between 5,000 and 6,000 shekels ($1,738).
Methods that were cheap before the war have now become successful for many. Partial tooth extractions cost between 30 and 150 shekels ($11-$53), while tooth extractions ranged between 100 and 300 shekels ($36-$107).
Today, these costs have increased significantly, and the heavy reliance on single-use equipment means that the hospital has to expand.
Al-Sindi says he feels sorry for every patient who leaves his surgery after not being able to get treatment, but with his hospital’s financial problems, there is nothing he can do.
“The most difficult thing is to see patients leaving the hospital in pain because they cannot afford treatment, while we are dealing with a huge shortage and high cost of services,” he says.
The plight of the dental industry reflects a serious problem affecting Gaza’s healthcare sector.
According to a study from the World Health Organization (WHO), about 84 percent of the hospitals in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed since the beginning of Israel’s murderous war in October 2023.
Waves of Israeli attacks and ongoing sieges have damaged or destroyed 1,800 hospitals in Gaza.
Due to the shortage of medical systems, many medical personnel are forced to move to temporary clinics in tents or work in facilities with limited care. They do not have the proper restrictions and equipment, but it is the only way to open up the majority of Palestinians in Gaza.
Murad Haji’s plight is indicative of the state of the dental industry in Gaza, where necessary procedures are delayed or ignored.
Elsewhere in Gaza, dental clinics continue to receive patients, each with their own story of pain, delays, and difficult calculations, in places where Palestinians have few options before them, even if they have long-term effects on their bodies.
