I had to wait 5 YEARS to see a dentist: Dad, 43, suffers from toothache, finally gets an appointment… on the back of a fully equipped truck
A father who had sleepless nights due to severe toothache has finally had a check-up after five years of waiting.
Mark Thompson, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, said the dire lack of dental appointments on the NHS and rising private costs were preventing him from accessing the care he so desperately needed.
The 43-year-old was one of more than 100 people on a waiting list for free checks and treatment organized by a charity clinic that toured Newcastle this week.
Mr Thompson was eventually seen in the back of an outfitted Dentaid truck, which mirrors a typical dental office.
Dentists were forced to remove the roots of some of his teeth that were causing him pain.
Mark Thompson (photo under treatment), had sleepless nights due to severe toothache and finally had a check-up after five years of waiting
The 43-year-old from Wallsend, North Tyneside, said the dire lack of dental appointments on the NHS and rising private costs were preventing him from accessing the care he desperately needed.
Dental Charity’s truck stops to see patients, including Mr Thompson, outside St Silas Church in Byker, on the east side of Newcastle
Mr Thompson told the Mirror: ‘I last saw a dentist five years ago and that’s because it’s so difficult to get an appointment.
‘I lost my job years ago. I struggle to afford food, let alone a dentist.’
Mr Thompson added that the care at the clinic was ‘brilliant’.
The Dentaid truck, with the help of 50 volunteers, stayed in Newcastle for five days, the longest it has ever been in one place.
According to the latest figures, 96.8 percent of dentists in the North East have closed their lists to new patients.
Newcastle Foodbank, which referred eligible patients to the service, said appointments were filled in just two hours.
Adults and children received check-ups, treatments, emergency care and extractions.
The latest figures show that around 26 million adults (about 60 percent of the population) have not had a check-up in the past two years.
This is one of the lowest rates since modern records began in 2006.
Some Britons have been forced to pull out their own teeth with pliers or travel abroad – including to Ukraine – to see a dentist due to a dire lack of access to the NHS.
Others have no choice but to queue outside newly opened NHS practices from 4am in the hope of securing a check.
The Dentaid truck, with the help of 50 volunteers, remained in Newcastle for five days, the longest it has been in one place
The rear of the Dentaid truck is equipped and reflects a typical dental office
Scenes outside an operating theater in Bristol earlier this year were described as ‘reminiscent of Soviet-era Eastern Europe’.
A lack of NHS appointments has also been blamed for more and more cases of oral cancer being missed, which is usually caught at its earliest and most treatable stages during routine dental checks.
NHS dentistry has been in crisis for years, with leaders claiming the sector is chronically underfunded, making it financially unviable to provide treatments.
The problem is made worse by the fact that as more dentists leave the NHS, those that remain are swamped by more and more patients.