Labour will introduce a dentistry rescue plan so patients can get an NHS dentist again, as new analysis reveals the overwhelming majority of practices have shut their doors to new patients.

Of the 253 dental surgeries who have provided a recent update in The North East, 245 are not currently accepting any new adult patients.

The collapse of NHS dentistry has left millions of patients unable to get an appointment when they need one. Analysis of patient survey data suggests that last year, 4.75 million people were either told there were no appointments available or the practice wasn’t taking on new patients, when they last tried to book an appointment.

Healthwatch England has reported horror stories of people forced to pull their own teeth out, with 1 in 10 Brits claiming to have attempted their own dental work.

Vast parts of England are now ‘dental deserts’, where no dentists are available. In the North East, 64.8% of dentists have shut their doors to new adult patients, with just 8 practices welcoming new patients across the entire region with particular problems hitting rural areas like Northumberland hard. The government has launched a pilot in Cornwall where NHS dentistry will only be offered to children and the most vulnerable.

Labour is promising to take immediate action to provide care for those in most urgent need, and long-term reform to restore NHS dentistry to all who need it. The party’s plans include:

• Funding NHS dental practices to provide 700,000 more urgent appointments, for patients in need of things like fillings and root canal.
• Incentives for new dentists to work in areas with the greatest need, to tackle the emergence of ‘dental deserts’ where no NHS dentists are taking on new patients.
• Supervised toothbrushing in schools for 3-5 year olds, targeted at the areas with highest childhood tooth decay
• Reform the dental contract to rebuild the service in the long-run, so NHS dentistry is there for all who need it

The plans will cost £111 million a year in total and be funded by abolishing the non-dom tax status, which allows people who live and work in Britain to pay their taxes overseas.

Wes Streeting, Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary said:

“The Conservatives have left NHS dentistry to wither on the vine, and now the service is barely worthy of the name. Patients in Northumberland and the wider North East are told to go without or do it themselves, with DIY dentistry now shockingly common in Tory Britain.

“The slow death of dentistry is the Ghost of Christmas Future for the NHS, if the Conservatives are given a fifth term: those who can afford it going private and those who can’t left with a poor service for poor people.

“Labour has a fully-costed plan to rescue NHS dentistry by gripping the immediate crisis and reforming the service in the long-term. We will provide 700,000 urgent appointments and recruit new dentists to the areas most in need, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status.”

Cllr Kath Nisbet who recently Chaired a working group of scrutiny in Northumberland looking at dentistry said “It is an ongoing issue in Northumberland and beyond where people simple cannot access the dental care they need.

Recently we have looked at Hadston, Widdrington and many other areas in Northumberland were dentists are giving notice and unacceptable travel is then a barrier for local people. We welcome Labours national plans as we see the issues currently being experienced first hand.