It was the picture that perfectly captured the bleak state of NHS dentistry in 2024. Hundreds of desperate people standing in a queue that snaked into the distance, all clinging to the hope they might finally get the care they urgently needed.
The farce at the newly opened St Paul’s Dental Practice in Bristol – where an estimated 1,500 patients were registered for NHS treatment in just two days – highlighted the extent of the crisis that the sector currently