The NHS dental crisis in the UK is intensifying, with reports indicating that patients are facing years without appointments in 'dental deserts', leading to severe health consequences including the risk of missing mouth cancer diagnoses. An urgent-care dentist highlighted the dire situation, describing it as 'spectacularly failing a lot of people' and noting cases where children as young as three need almost all their teeth removed. The crisis has been exacerbated by dental surgeries opting out of NHS provision, forcing patients to seek expensive private care. Labour's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has pledged to address these 'soul destroying' NHS waiting times, emphasizing the need for a robust plan to tackle what is now being described as a health emergency.
🦷 The NHS dentistry crisis could be fatal for some, if mouth cancer is missed 👩⚕️ That's what an NHS urgent-care dentist warned while I interviewed her for @theipaper after 3 of her shifts She also sees children who need almost all their teeth removed aged just 3 😬 🧵👇 (1) https://t.co/K0y1kJruX9
Wes Streeting MP delivers keynote speech at Labour North Conference in Newcastle #nhs #labourparty #wesstreetingmp https://t.co/Bq9gflqddy
NHS dental crisis goes from bad to worse-another surgery in Exeter opting out of NHS provision leaving yet more patients w/o access unless they can pay to go private. Disastrous for dental health. Labour has a plan. In the meantime, Govt needs to tackle this as a health emergency https://t.co/AQBn29mgSz
Labour's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting, has vowed to address "soul destroying" NHS waiting times in North East hospitals and dentist surgeries if his party win the General Election #nhs #labourparty #wesstreetingmp https://t.co/BXoRNekIyP
🦷 "The system is spectacularly failing a lot of people" 👩⚕️ An urgent-care dentist working in a 'dental desert', where patients have to go years without NHS appointments, tells me about the desperate cases she saw over three recent shifts, for @theipaper: https://t.co/sPm2F1voaL
🦷 I’m not right convinced the Government’s NHS Dentist Recovery Plan is working… https://t.co/zy4iVHKy5I