Mother used pliers to remove child’s rotten teeth amid dentist shortages, MP reports
A mother used pliers to remove her six-year-old daughter’s teeth because she could not get an NHS dentist appointment, an MP has said.
The woman took the drastic measure because the girl had rotten teeth, Scott Benton, the Conservative MP for Blackpool South, told the Commons.
He said his constituents were attending his surgeries and “pleading with me to get them the treatment they so badly need”.
Mr Benton cited figures estimating that 40 per cent of his constituents, amounting to 35,000 people, are unable to access NHS treatment.
“Only last week, a mother attended my surgery who had to physically remove the teeth of her six-year-old daughter with pliers because she was in so much pain and could not access the treatment her family needed,” he told MPs.
“As the NHS dentistry recovery plan is long overdue, would it be in order for the House to receive a ministerial statement on when we may finally see some progress on this issue?”
Mr Benton said the girl “had several rotten teeth” and “was in pain and they didn’t have a local dentist”.
Describing it as “an absolutely harrowing and heartbreaking case”, he told the BBC that her mother was not aware of a local emergency dental care clinic.
“Our lack of local NHS dentists is unsustainable and unacceptable and the Government needs to publish its dental recovery plan urgently and match this with funding to start to repair the situation,” he added.
Figures last year suggested that the number of dentists working in the NHS in England has dropped to the lowest level in almost 10 years.
Data obtained by the British Dental Association show 23,577 dentists performed NHS work in the 2022/23 financial year, down from 24,272 the previous year.
The last time these figures fell below 24,000 – apart from during the Covid pandemic – was in 2014/15, according to the data.
The Nuffield Trust think-tank has warned that “the original model of NHS dentistry is gone for good” thanks to cutbacks, with many areas of the country now described as “dental deserts”.
Last month, following NHS data which showed eight in 10 dental practices in England will no longer register adult patients and seven in 10 will not accept children, Labour said its rescue plan would offer new dentists £20,000 “golden hellos” provided they worked in the NHS for at least three years.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it would be publishing a dental recovery plan shortly and was increasing dental training places by 40 per cent to address the issue.
