Hundreds of people were forced to queue from 4am for a place on an NHS dental list in scenes resembling a row of ‘Soviet bloc outdoor bakeries’.
More than 300 people reportedly lined up outside Smile Dental Care in Kings Lynn on Tuesday after a one-line announcement on the practice’s website read: ‘We are taking on new NHS patients from 2 May.’
A photo of the queue was shared on Twitter by a disgruntled wannabe dental patient with the username @elliebwick.
She wrote, ‘Is this a queue for a performance? Meeting a celebrity? No. It’s a queue of people trying to get into the only dentist in Norfolk that takes NHS patients.’
The British Dental Association (BDA) described the scene as ‘belonging to the Soviet bloc, not a 21st century health service’.
A photo of the queue was shared on Twitter by a disgruntled wannabe dental patient with the username @elliebwick. She wrote, ‘Is this a queue for a performance? Meeting a celebrity? No. It’s a queue of people trying to get into the only dentist in Norfolk that takes NHS patients.’
The worst area in the country to receive NHS dental care is Kent, with just 407 dentists for a population of almost 1.6 million – or one in 3,904 people. While Hampshire, where the dental crisis has raged for several years, is rated as the second worst offender, with just one NHS dentist for every 3,773 people in its 1.85 million population
More than 300 people reportedly lined up outside Kings Lynn dental practice Smile Dental Care (pictured) in Norfolk on Tuesday morning
Under Ellie’s original tweet, she added: “For context, the dentist is taking on 100 NHS patients today.
“I was in line and had to leave because I have to pick up my son at 10:30am and I know I can’t get in. Absolutely ridiculous.’
Another Norfolk resident responded to the tweet, echoing the concerns, writing, “We live in Norfolk. My husband’s dentist left the UK to return to the EU and our practice has been unable to replace her despite all efforts.
‘I’m terrified that one day my own dentist will do the same thing and then we’ll have no chance of getting an NHS dentist in Norfolk.’
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee, said: ‘This is a prosperous 21st century nation, and dentistry is meant to be a core part of our NHS.
“But we are now seeing scenes that you would expect to see outside bakeries in the Soviet bloc. The crisis in dentistry is still ongoing and demands real urgency and ambition from the government.’
Conservative MP for the area, North West Norfolk, said: ‘Having successfully campaigned for the NHS to issue contracts leading to the opening of the new Smile Dentalcare practice last summer, I am pleased that thousands of patients have had appointments since then.”
He added: ‘It is encouraging that the practice is now taking on more NHS patients, although I have raised concerns with the company about this process and in particular how vulnerable people can register. Last month I met with the NHS again to urge them to take further steps to improve access to dentists in West Norfolk to meet local demand.’
London recorded the lowest percentage of children seen by an NHS dentist in England: 40.6 per cent. The rate was highest in the Northwest, where nearly half of children (49.8 percent) saw a dentist at least once every 12 months
It comes after the government last week set out its intentions to develop a ‘recovery plan’ for dentistry.
The plan was announced just minutes before the Department of Health and NHS England testified to the Health and Social Care Committee’s inquiry into the NHS dental crisis.
The move was criticized by the trade body and MPs as merely a ‘plan to have a plan’, with the BDA describing the last-minute announcement as ‘reeking of desperation’.
The latest figures from the LG Information – a database run by the Local Government Association (LGA) – recorded there was only one NHS dental practice for every 4,975 people nationally at the start of 2023.
And figures suggest that more than 6.5 million children in England have not been seen by an NHS dentist for at least a year amid the growing crisis.
Dentist Stuart McCance, who visits schools in Norfolk and Waveney to promote good oral hygiene, also shockingly claimed that some children in parts of England have ‘never’ seen a toothbrush.
In March, the first oral health survey of five-year-olds published since lockdown found no improvements in decay levels and the gap between rich and poor was widening.
Around 23.7 per cent of five-year-olds in England experienced obvious tooth decay, which is a marginal increase from the previous survey of five-year-olds in 2019, where the figures were 23.4 per cent.
MailOnline has reached out to King’s Lynn’s Smile Dental Care for comment.