THE DIRE state of NHS dentistry in the UK has reached a breaking point, with patients being admitted to intensive care due to untreated infections stemming from a lack of access to urgent dental care.
Leading figures in the profession warn that millions are being left to resort to extreme measures, including ‘DIY dentistry,’ as government measures fail to meet the scale of the crisis.
The crisis has been laid bare in an urgent letter to Health Secretary Wes Streeting, signed by Eddie Crouch, Chair of the British Dental Association (BDA), and Shiv Pabary, Chair of the General Dental Practice Committee. The letter, exclusively obtained by the Sunday Express, warns that unless urgent and fundamental reforms are made, NHS dentistry will continue to operate in a ‘Dickensian’ state, with thousands facing unnecessary suffering and preventable deaths.
The letter sounds the alarm over the government’s pledge to provide 700,000 urgent NHS dental appointments, warning that this falls dramatically short of the estimated 2.2 million patients currently in desperate need of care. This means that at least 1.5 million people will remain without essential treatment, with potentially life-threatening consequences.
It states that the lack of face-to-face dentistry has also led to a rise in antibiotic prescriptions to treat tooth infections which it says too often fail to cure infections, at the same time as increasing the risk of deadly antibiotic resistant infections.
“Clearly antibiotics do not cure toothache, but they do fuel antibiotic resistance,” it states.
The BDA is calling on the government to expand the number of urgent dental appointments and to overhaul the funding and contract system that it says has pushed NHS dentistry to the brink.
Millions suffering due to ‘dental deserts’ (Image: Getty)
Nick Whelan, a 22-year-old law student, was left fighting for his life after being unable to access an NHS dental appointment. His ordeal began in September 2020 when he developed toothache but was unable to secure treatment due to NHS backlogs. His condition worsened over the months, developing into a severe infection that ultimately led to sepsis.
“I left it to kind of develop and didn’t really think much about it, until I started getting quite a bit of swelling and pressure,” he said.
Repeated attempts to secure an appointment failed. As his condition deteriorated, he was admitted to Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, where doctors discovered his infection had entered his bloodstream and was attacking his vital organs. He was placed in an induced coma and underwent emergency surgery to remove infected tissue.
“Once I was admitted and seen by a consultant, within half an hour, they were talking about theatre and having to cut me open,” Nick said. “Had I been able to access the correct care, none of this would have happened.”
Nick spent six weeks in intensive care, followed by months of rehabilitation. He has been left with permanent scarring and ongoing trauma from the experience.
“It’s simply unacceptable that people have to beg for care from a system which is designed to be there for them.”
Despite this Nick has recently been told he will have to wait four months for an appointment for another tooth infection. He said: “the same timeframe as the last time,” he said.
In another case a 52-year-old man died from sepsis after attempting to extract his own wisdom tooth with rusty pliers.
A source close to the case revealed that the man had been unable to secure an NHS appointment and, in desperation, took matters into his own hands. His wound became infected, and without proper medical intervention, the infection spread, leading to his death.
In another case surgeons had to rush a woman in her mid-thirties into theatre who was struggling to breathe after the tissues under her jaw filled with pus from a dental infection. Surgeons opened her neck to drain the infection, saving her life.
Wes Streeting issued new warning of dental crisis (Image: Getty)
‘Government proposals fall short of unmet need’ (Image: Getty)
Tom Thayer, a BDA member and consultant oral surgeon said: “What I’ve seen at the chairside leaves me profoundly disturbed and frustrated. Severe dental infections have always been with us but today the circumstances are much worse.”
He said a growing number of patients are coming to A@E “with severe, and potentially life threatening, infections. Many require admission, and emergency surgery, with extended stays in intensive care. Because infection from the teeth occurs close to the airway, as a clinician presented with this, you know that there is a very real risk to life, and this is a surgical emergency. It is scary.”
He added: “Others attend A@E with lacerated mouths having tried to remove teeth themselves or after using needles to pierce their infections. This is not just adults, children as young as three years old are being admitted to hospital for dental infections. It’s outrageous.”
He added that those who go to hospital are just the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
He said: “Many others are living with ongoing infections impacting on their quality of life, health, diet, ability to work and self confidence. If we could treat people early on, this would not be necessary.”
Thousands turning to DIY dentistry in desperation (Image: Getty)
Six in 10 children have rotting teeth by the age of five in the worst affected areas.
Up to 80 percent of NHS dentists are not accepting new patients
‘Dental deserts’ where no dentists available now widespread
People resorting to DIY dentistry, attending A@E to access urgent care, or being admitted to intensive care with deadly dental sepsis
Letter from British Dental Association to Health Secretary warns new measures are not enough
NHS dentists dwindle leaving millions at risk (Image: Getty)
Eddie Crouch, Chair of the BDA said: “This situation is the result of a decade of indifference to a service millions depend on. The government must own this. Every day, we’re seeing the impact of choices made in Downing Street, the Department of Health, and the Treasury.”
He added: “A wealthy 21st-century nation is slipping back to the Victorian era on their watch.”
A Department of Health and Social care spokesperson said: “NHS dentistry is broken after years of neglect, which is why we’re getting on with fixing the sector through our Plan for Change so it can be there for patients once again.
“We’ve already begun the rollout of 700,000 extra urgent dental appointments to get immediate treatment for those most in need, and we will reform the dental contract to make NHS work more appealing to dentists.
“We’re also putting prevention at the heart of our plans, and today we have announced the rollout of a national supervised toothbrushing programme to prevent tooth decay in young children, saving the NHS millions in avoided treatment costs.”
Thousands travelling to Turkey to save dental fees (Image: Seda Asian Yulmaz – UK Turkish tourism expert)
One in 20 UK adults is now travelling abroad for dental care, research from the BDA shows.
The cost of treatments in the UK and lack of access to NHS dentistry were the main reasons cited by the adults who decided to travel abroad for care.
Younger adults were more likely to have dabbled in dental tourism compared to older age groups – 18 percent of 18 to 34-year-olds said they had travelled abroad for dentistry services in the last year, while no pensioners polled said they had travelled overseas to seek care.
People reported getting dental care in nearly 30 different countries, including France and India.
Among the most popular go-to dental tourist destinations is Turkey where patients can save up to 70 percent compared to UK private clinics. .
Over the past five years, more than 1.5 million UK patients have traveled to Turkey for dental treatment, with 500,000 arriving last year alone. Some of the dentists are now providing aftercare in the UK following treatment, new figures show.
One of these is Dr. Murat Beyazit, who runs Beyazit Dental Clinic in Tekirdağ, near Istanbul. Dr Beyazit travels to the UK twice a month to provide face-to-face consultations and follow-up care.
Seda Aslan Yılmaz, a UK-based Turkish tourism expert who organises UK-wide roadshows featuring Turkish dentists said patients need to do proper research before they go for treatment abroad to ensure they are getting good care and after care.
Highlights
Nearly 40 percent of people registered with a dentist have not seen one in two years.
Six in 10 children have rotting teeth by the age of five in the worst affected areas.
In 2022/23, the government in England allocated just £38 per head for NHS dental services. This is significantly lower than Wales (£57), Northern Ireland (£59), and Scotland (£73).
Between 2008 and 2019, expenditure on dental outpatient care in England as a percentage of total health spending remained among the lowest in Europe.
Children are flying to homes in Ukraine – where war has devastated infrastructure – because they cannot access treatment in England.
Tooth decay the most comone reason 6-10 year olds are admitted to hospital.
Don’t miss…