Doctor shortage in Great Britain: Dentist desperately wanted

Great Britain suffers from a massive shortage of dentists. Even children are no longer accepted in many practices. In desperation, some patients try to treat themselves – with drastic means.

The British national health service NHS is completely overwhelmed. The BBC has revealed that nine out of ten dental practices across England are no longer accepting new patients. The result is pain and desperate self-help measures by people who cannot afford private treatment.

Denise Pile is having soup for lunch again – what a surprise, she jokes. The pensioner from Cornwall actually stopped laughing a long time ago: she has been waiting for artificial teeth for four years. She hardly has any molars, at least incisors, but even they wobble, she tells the BBC:

“I can’t bite anything anymore, not even tomatoes or chopped cucumbers. It’s all too hard. After fifty years of working and paying taxes, it wouldn’t be too much to ask just to get a bit.”

Enormous waiting times or no appointment at all

Denise Pile, like many people on pensions and low incomes, cannot afford to pay for dental care out of pocket. And dental appointments, subsidized by the NHS and requiring only a small co-payment, have become a rarity.

Nine in 10 NHS practices across England are not taking new adult patients, BBC research shows. Eight out of ten also no longer adopt new children. And even for registered patients, the waiting times are enormous.

The Dental Association complains that many dentists are overburdened and can only treat a certain number of patients with the flat rates paid by the NHS.

Shawn Charlwood of the British Dental Association calculates that the state-funded lump sums would only cover around half of the population.

Many dentists have quit

The pandemic has exacerbated the situation due to closed practices and missed check-up appointments. The Department of Health says it has invested an additional £50million to reduce coronavirus waiting lists. But there are simply not enough doctors.

Around ten percent of dentists have withdrawn from NHS practices in recent years and only treat privately – also because they do not see their complex work being sufficiently appreciated by the NHS flat rates. But Shawn Charlwood believes there is another reason for the lack of dentists:

“After the Brexit decision, European dentists left the country for their homeland and have not returned. There are thousands of them, and that has made the situation even worse.”

Self-treatment with the pincers

Joshua Keeling was asked by his partner to pull her tooth with pliers because she couldn’t stand the pain anymore. A terrible situation. That’s why he has now started a signature campaign for better care. 180,000 people have already signed.

But until something changes, people will continue to work on their teeth with files and pliers and resort to dangerous self-help, explains Louise Ansari from the organization Healthwatch England:

“People live in pain and fear, they can’t eat or speak properly. And in their desperation, they put synthetic resin plugs on their gums with super glue.”