​The British Dental Association has responded to reports of widespread access problems in Cornwall, including cases of patients spending 18-36 months on waiting lists and resorting to extracting their own teeth.


Currently patients in Penzance, Bodmin, St Ives, Falmouth, and Newquay have just a single practice in Redruth reporting they are able to take on new adult NHS patients - forcing families to undertake up to 65 mile round trips. This situation is mirrored across England, with patients travelling further or waiting longer to access NHS services.

Problems which have long been acute in West Yorkshire are now everyday across England – including the East of England home of Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who last week encouraged patients unable to secure NHS access to embrace private care.

The UK government has yet to honour commitments made since 2010 to make a decisive break from the discredited 2006 NHS contract which effectively sets a cap on patient numbers. Dentists are penalised if they don't hit targets for activity, but are unable to treat extra patients if they want to do more.

Despite pledges to put prevention and primary care at heart of the NHS 10 Year Plan no commitments were made to guarantee the future of high street dentistry. There is currently funding to provide care for little over half the population, with spend per head on high street services falling by £4.95, from £40.95 to £36, in the last five years

The BDA’s Chair of General Dental Practice Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen said: 'Whenever governments fail to invest in NHS dentistry we find desperate patients opting for DIY alternatives.

'This isn’t the Victorian era. In a country with supposedly universal healthcare, these access problems are man-made, borne of failed contracts and cut budgets. Ministers keep treating NHS dentistry as an optional extra, and it’s our patients who pay the price.'

Author: