CAMPAIGNERS from Toothless in England have urged the government to declare a “dental emergency.”

Mark Jones, co-founder of the campaign, attended a meeting held at the Department of Health and Social Care on Wednesday, and chaired by the government’s dental minister Andrea Leadsom.

Mr Jones reminded the minister of the ongoing deaths of patients across the country due to preventable oral cancer and dental sepsis, and proposed the government declare an emergency.

If the government was to do so, “emergency powers could be issued so that all dental practices open their doors to the most vulnerable and in need,” he said.

At the round table, experts discussed the reaction to and implementation of the government’s “plan to recover and reform NHS dentistry.”

Mr Jones said he made an “impassioned plea” to Ms Leadsom asking her to “address the immediate needs of a massive number of patients who are today suffering unnecessarily from chronic pain and other conditions which could and should be treated without delay.” 

Under the government’s dental plan, dentists will be offered a “bonus of £15-£50 to take on NHS patients, which they say will create more than 2.5 million new appointments in the next year.

But Mr Jones said that this “won’t have much of an impact” when there are so few NHS practices open for business, while many remaining are considering closing shop.

In December, Toothless in England told the government three things that would make a difference to NHS dentistry.

They included staffing “treatment rooms laying dormant” with newly qualified dentists, mobilising mobile dentistry clinics to provide immediate access for rural and coastal communities, and reforming the current NHS dental contract so that it puts patient needs “above arbitrary targets.”