Penny Bayer requires additional dental care because of medication she is taking and has failed to get an NHS dentist to undertake it for her.

According to this BBC article, Penny, from Exeter, takes cancer medication which can cause gum disease, and she has had to resort to paying £1,000 on private dental care to make up for the shortfall she has experienced in her treatment due to not being able to find a dentist.

She vented her frustrations, saying:

“There was a deal – we paid our national insurance, we paid our tax and the services would be there. Then you suddenly find they are not. I feel the deal has been broken,” she said. In its manifesto, Labour said it would “‘tackle the immediate crisis with a rescue plan’.

“I know I am one of many, but it is brought to a head when you have a disease like cancer because the disease exacerbates the situation.”

According to the article, National Audit office figures published in November 2024 revealed that just 40% of adults in England saw an NHS dentist in the two year period leading up to March of 2024. This is a 49% reduction in patients seen prior to the COVID era.

Between 2023 and 2024, there were 483 fewer dentists across the nation providing some form of NHS care when compared t0o the 2019/2020 period. 

Prior to the 2024 general election, the current government’s manifesto said:

“Getting an NHS dentist is increasingly a lottery and the consequences are dire”.

“Labour will tackle the immediate crisis with a rescue plan to provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and recruit new dentists to areas that need them most.”

Ian Mills, a dentist and the chair of the Devon local Dental Committee, is of the belief that things are worse now than they were prior to COVID, blaming funding and delays regarding new contracts, as well as recruitment and retention of dental staff in key areas.

Ian said:

“The 700,000 additional appointments are not coming from new money, that’s from existing money and from the existing workforce.

“Unless dentists and team members are working extra hours, that’s not going to make a massive difference.

“There was a certain naïve optimism six to eight months ago there would be a significant change, but it’s obvious this government is backed into a corner and is struggling to deliver.”

My two-penneth

These figures are somewhat shocking when read presented in this form. The decline in adults getting to see an NHS dentist is almost unbelievable.

This delay in negotiating new contracts with NHS dentists is not only creating issues for existing patients, but is also responsible for a backlog of people who need to be seen both routinely and urgently to prevent future dental problems and related expenses.

As I have stated repeatedly – things really do need to change for the better, and as quickly as humanly possible.