Waits ‘forcing parents to be DIY dentists’

 Parents are resorting to “DIY dentistry”, an MP has claimed, as NHS waiting lists for dental treatment soar.

The number of children waiting more than six months for NHS dental treatment has risen by 52 per cent in three years, new figures show. Statistics from Freedom of Information requests show that children are waiting an average of two weeks longer, compared with 2013.

Jonathan Ashworth, Labour’s shadow health and social care secretary, said: “It is unacceptable that vulnerable children are increasingly waiting for months in agony to have their teeth fixed.

“We’ve also heard horrific stories of people forced to resort to DIY dentistry kits in utter desperation. In the fifth richest nation in the world, this is a damning indictment of Tory neglect.”