Police forced to intervene and send people home as hundreds queue for appointments at new practice in St Pauls, Bristol

undines,genuine question,how does poor oral health have a knock on effect? Concerned about family members.

It is well known that poor oral health and hygiene affect health generally and can lead to cancer and heart problems. That would cost the NHS a lot more - except you'll be lucky to get appointments for those conditions, too. These days it's hard not to wonder if something is going on - i.e. that those in power do not want us to live long lives. We pay privately, myself my husband and my autistic 26 year old son. Yes, it's expensive, but we can always get seen, and it's SO important. I prioritise it over holidays - many people will spend on their cruise but not their teeth.

My dentist isn't taking on any more NHS only private patients. And during lockdown would only see private patients with no exceptions .

Spuddy sorry to hear your experience. Its so frightening hoping nothing goes wrong medically.

My 84 year old sister has to have a tooth extraction and 4 fillings …after suffering for two awful months she’s finialky been forced to go private at a cost of an ‘eye-watering ‘ £2,050. ….i kid you not !!!
£350 per filling…and £450 for extraction …the other £200 for x-rays and examination . 🤬

Ours went private 2 years ago, no NHS dentists locally. I live between Southampton & Portsmouth

Back in the late 80's/90's, we were being encouraged to move onto Denplan by our NHS dentist and this was something happening quite widely in our area. At the time the dentist said that the way the NHS worked was totally unsustainable. I was lucky at that time to find another NHS dentist and was with him up until a few years ago. It was obvious the way things were going because at the Practice there was one NHS dentist and all the rest were private. There were new premises built, all very fancy, and all sorts of other treatments like facials, etc were being offered. Meanwhile, all around me there were constant complaints of not being able to find an NHS dentist.
3 years ago, I was told my dentist was going private. Now, he has avoided doing any fillings for as long as I could remember and when I needed a new root canal filling, he refused to do it and I had to go privately for that treatment. Anyway, I thought I'd stay for the check ups twice a year just to be on the safe side. The first check up came and funnily enough, I suddenly had several small fillings needed. Some hundreds of pounds later, I was suitably filled. Strange that. Anyway I left and have been looking for an NHS dentist ever since. When I go to the Government dentist checker, even if it says they are taking on patients, they aren't. It is a sad state of affairs.

I have a nhs dentist but fully aware the dentist I see is either still training or only just finished. However she lovely and brilliant, fortunately.

Stellaellabella
Everything you say is true. I worked with one of the first ever salaried general dental practitioners in London. 40 years ago. This meant we could see anyone, not just children, even though we were based in a community clinic. There were school inspections done by community staff and it was a good service that fitted in well. It would work well now. Maybe when Labour get in they could look at that. They will of course be up against the pull of the very lucrative private side of dentistry.
Basic dentistry should be a right. Especially in a country such as ours. We definitely are storing up huge problems for children in the future which is criminal.

I don’t know if this info will help anyone looking for an NHS dentist.
If you are anywhere near Tilbury ( Essex) there is a wonderful practice taking on NHS patients.
Elite Dentistry.

It's not just Brexit, there are only around 1,100 dental school places made available across the UK each year.. This figure has remained largely unchanged since 2013

All talk and no action as usual. This situation has been going on for quite a few years. Very few NHS dentists in our area. My previous NHS dentist became private. During pandemic I had an infected tooth and had to wait a considerable time before I could have it removed by emergency dentist. I remember crying down the phone to get antibiotics because I was in so much pain. I vowed I would never go through that feeling of helplessness again. I eventually saw a new private dentist. I can’t afford it but at least I can get an appointment and treatment. I want to hang on to the teeth I have. So many people have bad teeth and I feel sorry for the children who will grow up with bad teeth. We had to school dentist which awful but at least you got some sort of treatment. Teeth affect overall health and it is a false economy not to invest in dentistry.

Recently moved to be nearer family but have to stay with my previous dentist as there is no chance of ever getting an NHS Dentist here. So a journey by taxi there & back costs £70. On a pension that hurts as much or more than toothache! What is worse is that my 12 year old Grandson has to travel almost as far to see a Dentist as no Dentist here will take him! This country is just so much worse in the last few years. No Doctors, no Dentists, no money when old. Good way to get rid of an ageing population by the back door I think!

Nannan2

The dentists should be made to take on a certain percentage of NHS patients wether they like it or not- and in meantime and we have to pay for private treatment then it should be refunded back to those of us who are eligible for free NHS treatment by the government.

Do we live in a totalitarian state? Dentists are self employed.

Brexit!! Nothing to do with NHS Dentist Shortage whatsoever. There has been a shortage of NHS Dentists for 20 plus years.

Ailsa43

Visgir1

My dentist and many others in my area all went private well over 20 years ago.
My dentist however saw all under 18's on the NHS still.

Same here... I had to leave a very good dentist and practice because I couldn't afford the private dental charges when he changed from not treating NHS patients.

I was lucky that I found another NHS dentist.

However I would love to change NHS doctors because the one I've been with for 30 years which was always great, the best in town, now has gone the same way as many others and now we have very poor service..., but no other doctor surgeries in our town are taking on new Patients, if we're already registered with a doctor in our local area, and we're told we can't register with a practice in nearby towns either .

@BlueBelle
"Oh please stop Umstrongran that’s totally unnecessary a lot of it is down to people voting for Bexit a lot of our dentists were European"
You are absolutely right. Your government is busy choking the NHS, not only dentistry but also GP practices, hospitals etc.
Living in Europe we see the UK medically going back to pre-war times. We have family living in the UK so we know all about how regular folks struggle ánd how the rich have access to the best private care.
We all hope you will think....think...think again who you vote for next time.

A retired dentist, writing in the news today has said a lot of dentists no longer want to treat NHS patients as so many of them simply don't attend their appts, meaning the dentist doesn't get paid.
I don't know what the answer is

Hope everyone remembers the state this Government have got us into for the General Election. Did you read what Gordon Brown has said about poverty; another issue to remember

Oh I see Callistemon but they didn't appear to be telling them there was no point in queuing as there were no places left.

You're right that any treatment required has to be paid for even with NHS dentists.

I was involved in dental contracts for a while plus a good friend is a dentist - private only. The issue that is not often acknowledged is that most dentists, like GPs are self-employed contractors & they want to keep it that way. They pay themselves by sharing the profits the practice makes. Private practice pays much more, and has other benefits as well particularly regarding patient compliance, behaviour & deciding what work to take & what not to do. No one can make a dentist take up a contract to undertake NHS work.

The NHS introduced salaried dentists several years ago to try and offer an attractive alternative to setting up your own business which not everyone wants to do. The pay range is attractive. A
newly qualified NHS dentist needs to undertake dental foundation training for a year & I know a couple of years ago, this was £36k.

After that, it went up to between £44k with increments to £55k. If you then decide to specialise, it goes up to £63k. There were also very generous on call allowances for working weekends & evenings for dental emergencies.

If you were working in community dental services and or completed further training, you could easily earn well over £100k. You can also become a consultant NHS dentist & you’ll earn the same as any other consultant which is between £93 & £126k

I don’t think it’s just up to the govt of any party to solve this, I do think the dental governing bodies have a role to play as well in supporting & influencing their members to take up more NHS high street service contracts.

I was listening to a dentist explaining the industry side of the problem on the radio yeasterday. Apparently the dentists have contracts for a certain number of NHS patients whom they get paid to treat. The government are refusing to increase the number of patients on the contract even if the contract comes up for renewal, therefore the dentists are filling empty places with private places and can only take on a new NHS patient if a current NHS patient leaves. If they treat patients on the NHS over their contracted numbers then they don't get paid.

Bristol does have a Dental Hospital for those in dire need and referred by 111.

I recently had a serious infection in my gums to the point the whole of the left side of my face blew up and I was in absolutely agony with it, had difficulty in speaking because of the swelling and pain, I was literally on the edge of passing out through pain. Couldn't get a free NHS dentist and there's no way I can afford to pay so hubby had to drive me to A&E. The doctor and nurses who saw me were brilliant even though it was like a war zone in there and they were trying to treat countless hundreds of other patients. I didn't even have to wait too long, either, no more than an hour. They gave me antibiotics and the entire thing cleared up in 3 days.

GrannyGravy13

I have just seen this discussed on TV, the last dental practice in this area closed 7 months ago, by the look of the buildings it appears to be in a run down part of Bristol.

It’s much better than it used to be but much more graffiti all over Bristol. Our Mayor likes to describes it as art!.
St Paul’s is not the only part of Bristol where there’s a shortage of NHS dentists. It has been near impossible to register with an NHS dentist in every part of Bristol for 5/6 years. St Paul’s is only getting this publicity because a new NHS practice has opened up there.

Urmstongran

What a mess.

Very likely to be yet another and important election issue that hopefully will help to bury the Tories for at least a decade