NHS dentistry is in crisis, according to the official whose job is to commission enough dentists to check and treat patients across the south east.
Senior commissioning manager Mark Ridgeway made the admission as he answered questions from councillors who were angry about how hard it was for NHS patients to see a dentist in Brighton and Hove.
The problem was not confined to Brighton and Hove – but Mr Ridgeway was asked to appear before councillors again to explain the dire situation.
They made their request because he was unable to answer many of their questions at a meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Hove Town Hall on Wednesday (13 April).
Labour councillor Anne Pissaridou said that NHS dentistry did not seem to exist any more. She said that it was a stark question but asked: “Are dental services in crisis?”
Mr Ridgeway said: “Yes. We are doing all we can to try to mitigate it. It is very difficult as we are coming back from a place when practices, for a period of time, months, were working at 20 per cent of capacity.”
At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, he said, surgeries were closed except for the most urgent cases. NHS dentists were subsequently required to work for 20 per cent of their contracted hours.
Their hours had increased over the past year and they were now working at 95 per cent capacity, he said.
But, Mr Ridgeway said, a significant backlog would take many months to clear before services would return to pre-pandemic levels.
As more questions went unanswered, Labour councillor Clare Moonan, who chairs the committee, said that Mr Ridgeway should come back with data and detail because dental services were a “time bomb”.
Another Labour councillor, Amanda Grimshaw, said that she was horrified when discussing dentistry with a group of women on the day of the meeting.
She said: “I heard one of them say she was pulling her own teeth out. I asked why and she said when she went to her practice, she was told she was deregistered.
“She had an infected tooth and had to present at A&E, putting extra pressure on services at the hospital.
“When you’re from a ‘just managing’, the dentist is a luxury. Now we’re in an extended crisis for the poor and those on low incomes. What is the point in having free dental care when dentists are not accepting NHS patients!”
A new dental surgery opened in Moulsecoomb last year to increase NHS capacity but it had never been fully staffed, Mr Ridgeway said.
Councillor Grimshaw said that another resident of her ward, Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, and her family, were removed from a dental practice list because they had not attended during the pandemic. But during that time, the practice had been closed or dealing with emergency cases only.
I am a Dental Practitioner and it is funny for me to read this ridiculous article which goes around the bush and does not discuss the Elephant in the room – payment. When you expect a dentist and the company which supports salaries for staff, materials, runs the building, utility prices – to pay for an urgent tooth extraction 1.2 UDA’s – when for the dentist it is around 12 pounds for many , then that is a JOKE. When a dentist needs to find time, damage its own mental health and take the risk and work for 12 pounds per treatment in a stressful overbooked environment or exam and the company also gets only 12 pounds, then what NHS expects? Dentists are FORCED to leave NHS and deny that laughable pay yet on NHS dentists are expected to do great service for pittance , NHS is deluded. I am personally stirring away from NHS care, it is immoral and disgusting towards dentists.
Out of interest, what would be a ballpark reasonable figure for the above? £12 plus another 12 for the company not being enough I can understand – Even though as an NHS patient we pay a bunch more as well – I just don’t think it’s being publicised that the NHS payment is so low.