Exclusive:
Patients’ dental nightmares revealed as a Mirror investigation shows a huge 96% of all dentist practices in England are no longer taking on new adult NHS patients
Patients unable to access an NHS dentist have told of using their life savings to fly abroad to be treated.
A Mirror investigation suggests 96% of dental practices are not accepting new NHS adult patients and at least one in 10 constituencies in England do not have a single practice taking people on. Patients have told of the lengths they have gone to to get dental treatment with one telling how she superglued a tooth back in.
Susan Yates, 62, who runs a bookkeeping business and from Isle of Wight, explained: “I had bad teeth and knew something was wrong. I had a stressful job and I don’t think I am alone in that I was grinding my teeth through stress. It became uncomfortable to eat and I didn’t have the correct bite. I’d had lots of fillings, some crowns which were old and needed replacing, but due to cost, I felt like my NHS dentist was coasting me along, doing what he could.
“There was so much work that needed to be done to my teeth – I knew I needed at least two implants and five root canals. I had joined my dentist as a private patient just so my daughter could get NHS treatment. My NHS dentist knew there were problems with my teeth, but he also knew that I didn’t want to put a mortgage on my house to fix them.”
Last week a poll by Healthwatch England revealed one in eight parents say they were able to sign up their child to an NHS dentist only if they agree to be a private patient at the surgery. The watchdog insists the condition is a “breach of contract” and has called on the Government to give the public a “GP-style” right to register permanently with a local NHS dentist to access ongoing check-ups and appointments.
An NHS dental contract in England means dentists are paid the same whether they do three or a dozen fillings. It has created a situation where “high needs” patients can be the least welcome because it is difficult to hit NHS targets treating complex cases and dentists can end up making a loss on their care. Susan eventually had severe bite issues and needed five root canals, implants and crowns. Her NHS dentist said some parts of the job were considered cosmetic so she would have to pay to have the work done privately. She was quoted £25,000 but ended up travelling to the private Dentum Clinic in Zagreb, Croatia where she was charged £11,500.
Another British patient who ended up there is Lisa Morris who tried to superglue a tooth back in before flying abroad to get the treatment she wanted. Lisa, 50, said: “Everything is private now. I used to see people before and I couldn’t understand why they would have no teeth, I would think ‘What are you doing? Why can’t you get them sorted’ but you can’t, even with an NHS dentist now you have to pay X amount of money towards it and people just can’t afford it.”
The supermarket worker from Tonypandy, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, had an NHS dentist but lost access to it during the Covid-19 pandemic. Lisa said: “I was always petrified of going to the dentist. I think it was the embarrassment. I didn’t want to go in and show my teeth. But I found a nice NHS dentist and in 2018 I was going regularly, getting checked and cleaned every three months. But then my father got diagnosed with cancer and he passed away, I fell into depression and then Covid came. Before I knew it I had missed dental appointments and when I did call to book they said ‘Sorry you’re not part of the NHS anymore, you are private’”.
Lisa added: “I would never smile, I would never show my teeth, I was self conscious and would always put my arm up to cover my mouth when talking to people or customers, it was just really getting me down. It came to a point where my front teeth were getting loose and I thought ‘Oh this is getting serious now.’ I couldn’t eat anything like steak as I was worried they were going to come out. They would bleed and were painful. One was hanging by a thread so I used superglue to put it back in. My husband said I was mad but I was so desperate. I felt I had no other option.”
Lisa was told she needed to have all her teeth removed, temporary replacements inserted as well as a complete set of implants. Implants are not usually only available on the NHS and she was told she needed to pay £33,000 to have them done privately and would also be without any teeth for a number of weeks while the implants were prepared. She ended up travelling to the clinic in Croatia and paid £13,500 for the same treatment. The clinic has now treated more than 1,000 Brits this year.
Lisa said: “Eventually I was so desperate to get my teeth sorted I paid to go privately, but the cost to get everything done was so extreme, it was around £33,000. I was so shocked I couldn’t believe it. They also said I would have to be toothless for around eight weeks while my gums healed and shrunk back and I just couldn’t have done that.”
The Mirror has launched the Dentists for All campaign with the BDA and 228,000 have signed a petition calling for the service to be rescued .
Our Reach data unit analysed more than 6,500 practices on the NHS “Find a Dentist” website and found 4,800, or 73%, are not currently accepting new adult patients. As of November 18 some 62% of NHS dentists on the site were also not accepting children aged 17 or under.
