Alexander Shaban had been a patient at Cheddar Dental Practice all his life, but when he desperately needed treatment, he was turned away.

According to Somerset Live, “the nasty shock came after he was beaten up during a night out in Exeter when his attacker knocked out one of his teeth with a metal bar and cracked another”.

30-year-old Alex told the media outlet, "I was in Exeter helping sort out a flat for my friend and, after we'd finished that, we went out to watch the rugby and have a couple of drinks.

"On our way home that night, two young people - aged between their late teens and mid-twenties - were cycling along the pavement.

"As they passed us, one of them clipped me and I stumbled and fell down apparently - I don’t remember any of this."

Alex's friend told him afterwards that one of the youths took the seat-post out of his bike and began to hit him with it repeatedly. He was left with a head wound and broken teeth.

"My friend called an ambulance while I scrambled around on the ground, looking for my missing tooth. When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics treated my head wound, then they told me to make my own way to the hospital," Alex said.

However, after arriving at A&E and finding it “very busy”, the pair headed home and instead returned in the morning.

Alex was able to ger treatment for his head would, but was told he would need to see a dentist about getting his teeth fixed.

"So the next day, as soon as they opened, I called Cheddar Dental Practice and gave my name and told them what had happened. At first, they couldn’t find me on the system, but then they found that my records had been archived.

"They said I was no longer registered there as an NHS patient and I was perplexed by that because I was never told that I had been taken off the list.

"So I asked to re-register and they said they were not taking any more NHS patients over the age of 18," Alex explained.

He added that the receptionist told him he could sign up immediately as a private patient, but he knew he did not have the finances to go down that route.

"I have a friend who lost a tooth and it cost him £5,000 to replace - I don’t have that kind of money," Alex said.

However, as he was experiencing a lot of pain, due to the sensitivity of a cracked tooth, Alex decided to visit the dental practice in person, in the hopes of persuading them to give him an appointment.

"I showed them the state of my mouth and they said it was only a courtesy that they kept patients on the list between appointments and they were not obliged to do so.

"They said there was a two-year grace period after which NHS patients were removed from the practice register. I said that the last two years have been covid and we have been advised not to come here unless we really need to," Alex explained.

He added that he had missed his last appointment, which was before the pandemic, but that he had been intending to reschedule it when covid hit.

"Even though I had missed it, I would still have expected a letter or a phone call to say 'we're going to take you off the list'. It seems to me like they just don't want any new adult NHS patients.

"The receptionist called to me as I was leaving, 'that's why we wear masks now' and I was shocked by that. Did she mean for me to hide my face? It really wasn’t the moment to be making jokes about it - I was in a lot of pain," Alex said.

He then rang the NHS dental helpline for advice and managed to get an emergency appointment with a dentist in Frome. They were able to put a temporary cap on his broken tooth and bond it to the one beside it.

However, he said he had "no idea" how he would afford to get them permanently fixed, as he needs two crowns and possibly a root canal.

"I have got to wait two to three weeks for the injury to settle down and I’m just looking at my options now. I don’t have the finances to do it privately.

"I was outraged and I think people need to be aware of this shameful behaviour. People are being taken off NHS dental lists and not being told. I feel really let down," Alex said.

Somerset Live contacted Cheddar Dental Practice about Alex's experience.

Although they said they could not comment on individuals, they offered to clarify the current NHS registration system.

A spokesman said: "Patients are only associated with the practice whilst they are under a course of treatment. As a practice, we currently offer a goodwill gesture of keeping patients on our NHS list for two years after the completion of treatment.

"If patients do not attend within a two-year period then we assume they no longer want to be seen and subsequently they are removed from our list.

"At the present time, unfortunately, we do not have any capacity to add patients to our NHS list."

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