Cash-strapped pensioners are being forced to save for expensive private dental treatment because they can’t get NHS care, The Mail on Sunday reveals.
And those who can’t afford private care are turning to over-the-counter repair kits to support crumbling teeth.
Some are so concerned about the lack of access to NHS treatment that they have turned to eating only mushy foods in an attempt to avoid pain.
This shockingly bleak picture of NHS dental care came after our GP, Dr Ellie Cannon, spoke last week of how her clinic is overrun with patients suffering from problems with their teeth but unable to access an NHS dentist.
Some glued their broken teeth back together with superglue, while others sealed cavities with chewing gum.
CREDITCRUNCH: Janice Chapple (pictured), 74, can’t afford the fillings she needs
Some told us they felt ‘scared and abandoned’ by the NHS dental service at a time in their lives when they needed it most.
Children are also affected – parents told how they can’t find NHS dentists for their children, even though they are entitled to free NHS care until their 18th birthday.
Adults usually pay a small amount towards the cost of NHS treatment.
Our findings come as Parliament’s Health Select Committee launches an inquiry into the collapse of dental services in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The committee’s MPs will be taking testimonials from health chiefs in the coming weeks.
A report, expected to contain hard-hitting recommendations for overhauling the system, is expected next month. But in the meantime, patients are left to their own devices or forced to find the money to cover dental bills that can run into the hundreds or even thousands of pounds.
A concerned reader told us, “I’m 78 and my teeth are crumbling. I’ve been paying into the system all my working life and I feel let down.’
Another woman, in her 80s, wrote: ‘My husband and I have a pension credit [a top-up for those on very low income] and had all our dental work for free. But since Covid-19, all dentists in our region have gone private. We now pay £17.50 a month for private dental cover – which we can barely afford.’
Janice Chapple, who is 74 and has Parkinson’s disease, contacted us to say that at her routine NHS check-up in December she was told she needed five fillings in her decaying front teeth – but would have to pay for them because the practice was stopping all the work of the NHS.
She said, ‘I’m really scared and I don’t know what to do. I just don’t have the money for it, even if the same practice could immediately see me as a private patient.
“I’ll probably have to put everything on the credit card before my teeth fall out.” I bought a tooth repair kit from the pharmacy and stopped eating certain foods in case my teeth broke.”
Cash-strapped pensioners are forced to save for expensive private dental treatment because they can’t get NHS care, The Mail on Sunday can reveal (stock photo)
Another reader, from Sidmouth in Devon, says she can’t find a practice that can treat her 15-year-old son after the dentist he saw was taken over by a private provider.
‘There are no NHS dentists anywhere in our area. We’ve been going to the same practice since he was a toddler. Now it’s going to cost me £25 for him just for a check-up – plus extra if he needs work, even though he’s entitled to free care.’
Their fears are echoed on social media as well. One Twitter user described how her son’s friend went to extremes after moving from Scotland to Somerset: “Last weekend she flew back to Glasgow for her NHS dental appointment because it was cheaper than private dentists in Somerset.”
And a recent tweet from campaign group Toothless In England, which demands NHS dental care for all, said: ‘We are hearing more stories from concerned parents where their children are going through primary school without ever having a routine checkup. -upwards.’
The British Dental Association (BDA) estimates that 11 million people are experiencing delays in NHS treatment and is calling for major public investment to save the service. It says dentists are walking away from the NHS provision because it doesn’t pay enough to make it worth it.
A recent BDA survey found that half of dentists surveyed had cut back on NHS work since the pandemic and 43 per cent said they plan to go fully private in the near future.
Dentists are paid by the NHS for units of dental activity (UDAs). One UDA pays a minimum of £23. Each practice is allocated a set number of UDAs per year and given the funds to cover them.
For example, a routine check may yield one UDA, but more time-consuming work, such as fillings, may cost three UDAs. Once dentists have used up their quota, they are not paid to treat any more NHS patients. This means they can only do a limited number of NHS treatments.
If they don’t use their quota, they have to pay back the money they owe. Last year, England’s Department of Health and Social Care ruled that unused UDAs could instead be distributed to other practices, so that more NHS patients could get the treatment they need rather than the money going to waste. But new figures show a record £400 million worth of UDAs went unspent last year due to NHS England’s failure to properly reallocate unused quotas.
“That is an unprecedented amount,” says Eddie Crouch, chairman of the BDA. “And it’s not fenced, so it will be lost to NHS dentistry.”
The BDA states that many dentists have spent years subsidizing NHS work through private income. Meanwhile, the Oral Health Foundation has warned that a lack of access to an NHS dentist is partly responsible for what it calls a ‘catastrophic increase’ in children’s tooth extraction.
Dr. Nigel Carter, director of the charity, said there is a postcode lottery, with children in poverty-stricken regions three and a half times more likely to have their teeth extracted under anesthesia than children in wealthier areas. He warned: ‘These disparities are becoming increasingly apparent as NHS dentistry comes under more pressure, with fewer NHS dentists and an NHS dental contract that doesn’t work.’