NHS dentistry is in a state of serious decay | Owen Jones

Finally, some outrage about the national scandal that is dentistry. The health of our teeth matters, but dentistry has long been a neglected arm of the NHS. The British Dental Association has just revealed that 600,000 people have made futile appointments with GPs over dental problems in a year, at a cost to the NHS of £26m. It’s a statistic that has provoked mockery – one person tweeted: “I wonder if the 600,000 people a year who go to the GP for dental care ask electricians to fix their roofs as well?” But it is not the patients who should be shamed – it is the government.

As the BDA points out, nearly one in five patients have postponed treatment because of fear of what it might cost. The government has slashed funding for NHS dentistry by £170m since the Tories first entered No 10, and it is expecting patients to make up the shortfall. This year, dental charges were hiked by 5%, and they’re expected to increase by the same amount next year. On the current trajectory, in 16 years’ time most of the NHS dental budget will be funded by patients rather than by central government. But the whole point of the NHS is that it should be free at the point of use, and treatment should be provided according to need, rather than ability to pay.

One in seven children haven’t visited a dentist by their eighth birthday

Even children, who are entitled to free NHS dentistry, are being let down by a system that is unable to provide enough dentists to cope with demand. Earlier this year, more than 400 dentists signed a letter advising that dental health was collapsing to “third world” levels in parts of Britain. “The NHS dental system in England is unfit for purpose,” was their stark warning. So severe is this crisis that more than 62,000 people – mostly children – end up in hospital every year because of tooth decay; half of adults haven’t seen a dentist in a two-year period; and one in seven children haven’t visited a dentist by their eighth birthday.

When dental charges were first introduced in 1951, Nye Bevan – the architect of the NHS – resigned from the government in protest. Sixty-five years on, the service is marred by underinvestment, excessive charges and a lack of NHS dentists. We should aspire to properly publicly funded NHS dentistry, free of rip-off charges. Tragically, we’re headed in the opposite direction. The teeth of lower-income Britons – particularly children – will suffer as a consequence.

NHS dentistry is in a state of serious decay | Owen Jones