Karen's Struggle for dental care in Cornwall
Karen, 62, lives in Bodmin, Cornwall. Before the pandemic, Karen already needed extensive dental work. She was due to have some teeth removed and dentures fitted, but when lockdown restrictions came into force, her treatment was put on hold.
Karen tried to get a new appointment in 2021 after most of the lockdown restrictions were lifted. She called her dental surgery several times, but they didn't have any availability. Then she got a letter in the post from her dental practice, where she'd been registered for 40 years, saying that they were no longer seeing NHS patients.
"They de-registered me as an NHS patient and added me to a waiting list, if they start seeing NHS patients again," Karen says.
Karen has been advised to look for private care to continue her treatment. Even her GP has told her that she might have to pay for treatment. "Unfortunately, paying for private care is out of the question," Karen explains. "We're talking about thousands of pounds, and I can't afford it."
On one occasion, Karen called NHS 111 during a dental emergency, and they booked her an appointment in Bristol, which is nearly 150 miles away. Karen doesn't drive on motorways, and trains are expensive, so she had to decline this appointment.
As a result, Karen is still waiting for treatment that was first discussed with her five years ago. She takes pain relief when things get too bad and considers herself lucky for the time being. "I still have some teeth, but I'm not sure how long they'll last. Maybe they'll treat me once they all fall out."
What needs to change?
Last November, we published new research to highlight to the Government and the NHS why dental care reform is needed to make it more accessible and affordable.
The steps we've called for include:
- NHS dentistry should be reformed to give everyone a GP-style right to be permanently registered with a dental practice to get both preventative and urgent care throughout their lifetime.
- Dental practices should clearly communicate to people what they need to do to be maintained as an NHS patient.
- Public awareness of how the NHS dental system works should be improved, to help people consider or plan for alternative sources of care if their practice chooses to stop treating NHS patients.
- More information should be promoted to the public about help with NHS dental charges, such as exemption categories or the NHS Low Income Scheme.
- The NHS should clearly indicate how people can get urgent care via NHS 111 if they don’t have a regular NHS dentist.
