Sascha Burnham, a woman from Barnstaple, had to extract her own tooth because she could not get an appointment with an NHS dentist in North Devon. She temporarily filled the cavity with a ceramic filling material she bought online and removed the broken tooth with tweezers.
Burnham said her original dentist in Braunton had left the clinic and tried to get an appointment with an NHS dentist in Minehead but to no avail. She lamented that dental care has become a “luxury” rather than a daily necessity.
She was on leave at home due to health problems and the cost of treatment at a private clinic was as high as ￡3,000, far beyond her financial means. She was one of many residents who asked local MP Ian Roome for help.
She said: “The ceramic fillings I bought are okay for small holes, but they are completely ineffective when they encounter large areas of damage or fractures.” In the end, she had to use tweezers to remove the broken tooth, leaving a sharp tooth point that even cut her tongue, so she had to use sandpaper to smooth it out. This situation is extremely frustrating for her because she has always paid attention to oral health and visited the dentist regularly before the epidemic.
Last week, Ian Roome, a North Devon MP, mentioned in parliamentary questioning of the Prime Minister that many residents in the constituency were forced to use pliers or “self-service” dental tools purchased online to extract teeth because they could not find an NHS dentist.
He asked: “What is the Prime Minister’s response to this? When will the government end this dental crisis?” The Prime Minister responded that the government is planning to add 700,000 emergency and urgent appointments, reform dental contracts, and recruit more dentists, requiring them to practice in the NHS for a certain number of years.
The Prime Minister pointed out that the “legacy” left by the Conservative government is that a quarter of British adults have difficulty accessing NHS services, and the proportion of children aged 5 to 9 who are hospitalized for tooth decay remains high. “We are working hard to solve these problems.”
However, Roome, chairman of the North Devon Dental Steering Group, told local media that although the additional appointments sounded positive, it would be difficult for dental services in North Devon to improve quickly without fundamentally solving the problems of staff shortages and contract mechanisms.
“Clinics are having difficulty recruiting, dentists are leaving the NHS, and more and more adults and children are unable to get necessary care,” said Rum. “Emergency treatment is important, but only by properly incentivizing NHS dentists can we avoid falling into long-term difficulties. We urgently need clear policies and emergency measures to prevent more people from taking the dangerous path of ‘self-extraction’.”