CASES of people resorting to “DIY dentistry” are no longer unusual, as nine in 10 NHS dentists are unable to accept new adult patients, Healthwatch England has warned.
According to an investigation by the BBC and the British Dental Association, 91 per cent of NHS dental practices in England have no capacity for new adult patients, with this figure rising to 97 per cent in the Midlands and 98 per cent in the south-west, north-west and Yorkshire and Humber.
Eight in 10 practices are not accepting children as new patients, the figures also showed.
Of those practices not taking on adults, 23 per cent said they had an open waiting list and 16 per cent either said the wait time was a year or longer or were unable to say how long it would be.
For Scotland and Wales, this figure stands at 82 per cent and 93 per cent respectively, with the BDA warning that NHS dentistry will “die” unless the government pushes for “real reform.”
Commenting on the figures today, Healthwatch England director Louise Ansari described the situation as “dire.”
She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “So many people can’t get an NHS dentist appointment, they’re in pain, they’re anxious, some people can’t eat or speak properly.”
“And suddenly, indeed, it’s not unusual for us to hear stories of DIY dentistry, things like making teeth out of resin and sticking them in to their gums with superglue, which is an absolute desperate situation for somebody to be in.”
Toothless in England campaign co-ordinator Mark Jones echoed the call for reform, saying that government intervention was urgently needed.
“Members of the public are fed up and angry – and they have every right to be,” he said.
“They’ve been writing to their MPs, the local press, calling into radio stations up and down the country, but it seems no-one in the government is listening.
“It must be time now, surely, that the government announces the radical reform of the NHS dental contract that’s needed, with a funding formula that's fair to dentists and one that will finally address the nation’s oral health inequalities.”
Responding to the figures, a Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman insisted that improving patient access to NHS dental care was a government priority.
“New reforms to the dental contract announced last month are an important step, allowing the best performing practices to see more patients … while also rewarding dentists more fairly for providing more complex care,” she said.
