‘If you live in Wales you can’t have your teeth done and if you cross the Severn Bridge you can’
DENTISTS say routine dental work, such as getting a filling, won’t be available until the new year as they struggle with the coronavirus guidelines and a growing backlog of cases.
Some say they are being forced to pull out perfectly “saveable” teeth and arrange treatment in England at the weekends because of the rules in Wales.
There have even been reports of one patient travelling to Sweden to get a chipped tooth fixed and people waiting for false teeth after their dog ate their dentures.
Dr Charlie Stephanakis, a dentist in Cardiff, has warned there is an “impending disaster” facing the dental health of the Welsh public and claimed people in Wales were being discriminated against.
Dr Stephanakis, owner of the Pontcanna Dental Practice in Cathedral Road, said: “If you live in Wales you can’t have your teeth done and if you cross the Severn Bridge you can.”
On Monday practices in England were allowed to re-open and treat patients as required, having been closed since lockdown began on March 24.
Surgeries in Wales have remained open for some procedures during lockdown with emergency cases sent to one of 15 urgent dental care centres.
His comments came as the Welsh Government said reinstating services in Wales needs to be “gradual”.
From July 1 patients in Wales will be able to be assessed for urgent care at their practices but those requiring invasive procedures such as high-speed drilling will still be referred to specialist urgent dental care centres.
Under the phased guidelines set out by Wales’ chief dental officer, Colette Bridgman, routine assessments and care will only be reinstated between January and March next year.
Currently any “aerosol-generating procedures”, such as drilling, are not allowed to be carried out in surgeries due to the risk of transmitting coronavirus.
Dr Stephanakis said: “If you went with a tooth that could be saveable under normal conditions the only option is to do nothing, take some antibiotics and hope it will work, or have the tooth taken out. So what it means is that teeth that could be saved are being removed.”
Even with the introduction of new operating procedure guidelines, some treatment will still remain unavailable in Wales. “But if you go across the border you can have whatever the dentist feels he is capable of giving you safely,” he added.
“I’ve got a client who just happens to have a business in Sweden who snapped her front tooth and luckily the people organising the courses she was doing found a dentist for her so she’s had it done whilst in Sweden. If you need a filling, as things stand, the chief dental officer in Wales is not allowing you to have that done at this point in time until 2021.”
He also warned the financial strain of lockdown could force a lot of dentists to go out of business with dire consequences for dentistry in Wales.
“The provision of dentistry in Wales will be greatly reduced and that means the NHS will have to take up the slack and, to be honest, it’s pushed to capacity at the moment,” he said.
“I know of a lady in Penarth who had been in pain, had antibiotics, and now she’s going to be booking an appointment in Bristol. She wants to go locally but she can’t.
“There is a solution and that solution is pretty straightforward. If the urgent dental centres are set up to provide dentistry in a safe way then all we’re asking for is to be given the procedures to allow those practices who can to get on and start treating patients.”
Even so the backlog massive, he added.
“Most dentists that I’m to are working out how of cases is speaking they can work from day in the out.
“There are even some who live on the border coming to arrangements with dentists across the border so they can take their clients there and treat them at the weekends.”
Dr Stephanakis, who has owned his practice for 15 years, said his surgery had measures in place to create a safe environment, including a special machine to change the air in the surgery 10 times in 10 minutes between every patient.
“If something isn’t done soon people are going to have irreversible damage to their teeth,” he added.
It is a sentiment echoed by Tom Bysouth, a dentist in Llandovery and Llandeilo, and also the chairman of the Welsh General Practice Committee for the Welsh Dental Association.
Since March 24 he has been mainly limited to taking out teeth and carrying out some temporary fillings, he said. eight week, until eight, every to get this sorted
He too is worried that the phased approach means some routine care might not be in place before the new year at the earliest. It means Welsh dentists have now “fallen behind” their English counterparts, said Mr Bysouth.
He has one patient whose dog has eaten their dentures leaving them unrepairable. Mr Bysouth said: “Looking at the guidelines as they stand now we can’t even fix false teeth. So if your false teeth have been eaten by your dog I currently am not allowed to make you new false teeth.”
He added: “We’ve got a huge backlog of treatment. We’ve got a lot of patients who have got problems that still need to be fixed and when we are due to start going back from the start of July it will be at a vastly reduced capacity.
“We will prioritise those most in need but when you’ve got a large list of people that can be quite difficult to do.”
He is also worried that many early signs of mouth cancer, often spotted during routine appointments, are being missed.
“England’s practices went back on June 8 having not been able to see any patients in their practice since March,” Mr Bysouth said. “Wales had been better placed during lockdown as they were able to offer some treatment but now England has overtaken Wales.
“Everyone is doing things a bit differently which can be confusing. The Welsh Government need to put in measures that allow dental practices to open up as soon as possible.
“We don’t want to put anyone at risk. We don’t want to be causing any problems. But let’s learn from what other countries are doing and start treating patients so we can clear the backlog.
“Dentists just need the guidance so they can start planning.”
Dr Bridgman said she shared dentists’ concerns and recognised routine care cannot be postponed indefinitely.
She said: “Many dental procedures, such as fillings or scaling, use high-speed drills and other tools which are ‘aerosol generating’ - this