Let’s not grin and bear dental system’s failings

OF all the regular healthcare procedures I have in my calendar – mammograms, smears, eye tests – it is the dentist I fear the most.

I never used to be like this. Despite being a child of the 70s, when rubber gas masks were all the rage for tooth extractions and you were no one without a full set of mercury fillings, I was always cool with the dentist and subsequently made sure my kids were too. In fact, I would roll my eyes at those who quaked at the sight of that big chair.

Now? Not so much.

Now, I view that chair and its relentless spotlight with gut-churning trepidation. Even the smell of the dentist’s waiting room – usually a heady mix of toothpaste, disinfectant and light sweat – sets my nerves on edge.

It may be something to do with my advancing years and the inevitability that I will need an increasing amount of work on my gnashers to prevent them falling out of my head.

Whatever it is, visiting the dentist now ranks just below clearing the drains by hand in my ‘least favourite things to do’ list.

Lucky me, then – I don’t go any more.

This isn’t out of choice. My dentist of 25 years, a sweet, charming and infinitely gentle man, has retired. And where I live NHS dentists are like, well, hen’s teeth.

This week I read that more than 2,000 dentists quit the NHS last year, sparking ‘dental deserts’ in some areas of the country.

That means millions of people are struggling to access free dental care, with the number of dentists at its lowest in a decade.

Now I’m fortunate. I can afford to pay for dental treatment. It’s jawdroppingly expensive but I don’t feel I have much of an alternative.

What about those who can’t afford to pay, though? We heard hair-raising stories over lockdown about people doing DIY dentistry on themselves. Will that become the norm?

As ever, it is the folk with the least who will suffer the most. Those living in more deprived communities – where there is an overlap with ‘dentistry deserts’ – are at greater risk of gum disease, tooth decay and oral cancers.

This is all part of the wider issue of NHS staffing problems, of course, but it feels as if dentistry has, for too long, been a bit of a Cinderella service viewed as ‘only your teeth’ next to cancer surgery or hip replacements.

Complicated private and NHS contracts out of the same practice have added to the confusion too.

It’s time that dentistry was reformed across the UK. Areas without NHS dentists must have them and there must be investment in training more so we’re not storing up further problems for the future.

Prevention is better than cure, after all.

None of this can be fixed overnight but those in power have to make a start.

Did you know that in 1948 three quarters of all British adults had dentures? Do we really want a return to those days?

Everyone has a right to keep their teeth in their head. Not in a glass.