Cornwall man left in wisdom tooth 'agony' after dentist drops NHS patients

A man from Cornwall has been left in agonising pain and feels "completely let down" after his dentist dropped most NHS patients last year.

Terry Bennett-Glew, who lives in St Austell, had a tooth taken out by an NHS dentist last year.

He now has a hole in his wisdom tooth which is causing him a lot of pain, but he cannot afford to pay privately.

Terry said: "We feel completely let down. My wife is exactly the same. We’re completely let down by it all, you know there’s nowhere to go. What do we do if we do get into agony.

"If I had the same thing happen to me now as it happened last year, then I would be in serious trouble because my face came up like a hamster.

"It all expanded and was very very painful. You can go onto a site to find a dentist and they’ll all say ‘not accepting NHS dentists’ which is demoralising for a start, it makes you wonder where you can go from there.

Terry's swollen face after he had a tooth taken out last year. Credit: ITV West Country

The independent body Healthwatch Cornwall has published a report into NHS dentistry across the Duchy.

It found that as of September, there were more than 34,000 people on the waiting list for NHS dental care in Cornwall.

Debbie Gilbert, chief executive of Healthwatch Cornwall, said: "We’re frequently hearing of people going to hospitals, going to doctors because of abysses or infections and people who are trying to take their own teeth out using the old traditional method of the old string on the door.

"Things have to change, I don’t think it’s when it does have to change because it has such an impact on the infrastructure and on hospitals and doctors.

"They can’t deal with dental issues so I’m really hoping that collectively that we can really drive change for Cornwall and for its residents."

Debbie Gilber says she is "deeply concerned" about the state of NHS dentistry in Cornwall. Credit: ITV West Country

A number of recommendations were given to NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Integrated Care Board, and in a statement Chris Reid, the chief medical officer, said: “We are implementing a range of measures locally to address national pressures on NHS dentistry.

"This includes commissioning additional urgent care and stabilisation services, operating an emergency dental service to deliver 20,000 appointments a year."

"We will be working hard to develop a strategy that addresses the recommendations in the Healthwatch report – we are determined to serve our population better with access to NHS dentistry.”

Commenting on the new Dental Strategy, Ian Mills, who runs a dental practice in Torrington, said: "Many of these initiatives are overly ambitious, we have got a workforce at the moment which is insufficient to deliver the care that we need.

"A lot of that workforce are being increasingly frustrated at the delays and are looking across the private sector.

"So unless you address the contract, unless you address the workforce. We’re going to really struggle to deliver some of these targets."

Richard Foord MP led a debate in Westminster on Tuesday 12 November. Credit: PA Images

Richard Foord, Liberal Democrat MP for Sidmouth and Honiton, led a debate in Westminster on Tuesday 12 November.

He is calling for "urgent action" to be taken to deal with the shortage of NHS dentists in the South West - adding that in 2015, 55% of adults were able to see a dentist but in 2024 that figure has dropped to just 37%.

In response, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Rebuilding NHS dentistry is a priority for this government, but it will take time to construct an NHS dental sector that is fit for the future.

“We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and we will also reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.”

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