Revealed: 5 million people living without dentist as Liberal Democrats call for an end to dental deserts

EMBARGO: 00:01 Monday 30th December 2024

• Figures reveal one in eight people in England don’t have a dentist
   
• 140,500 people in a month unable to get NHS dental care prompting fears of rise in “DIY dentistry”
   
• Lib Dems warn getting ministers to fix dentistry is “like pulling teeth”

The Liberal Democrats are urging the government to end dental deserts after it was revealed that an estimated 5 million people in England do not have a dentist.

A shocking 12.2% of people in England do not have a dentist at all while just 52.8% have an NHS dentist, according to the latest figures from the ONS Health Insight Survey.

Analysis of the survey by the Liberal Democrats has found that in one month alone 140,526 (94.1%) people, who needed treatment but did not have their own dentist, were unable to access NHS dental care.

Of these patients, more than 1,500 resorted to going to A&E but the vast majority (79.7% or 111,999) reported that they were unable to receive the treatment they needed. 

This is fuelling fears that more and more patients are resorting to DIY dentistry due to not being able to access any form of affordable dental care.

In Oswestry, North Shropshire, where one practice recently handed back its NHS contract due to not being able to balance its books, a man pulled his own tooth out with pliers after six months in agony not being able to find an NHS dentist.

The Liberal Democrats have called on the government to end the scourge of dental deserts and to back the Party’s Dental Rescue Package. This includes measures such as bringing dentists back to the NHS from the private sector by fixing the broken NHS dental contract and introducing an emergency scheme to guarantee access to free NHS dental check-ups for those already eligible: children, new mothers, those who are pregnant and those on low incomes.

Liberal Democrat Health and Social Care spokesperson, Helen Morgan MP said:

“As more and more patients are forced to perform dangerous DIY dentistry, it’s like pulling teeth trying to get ministers to take the action we need.

“The crisis in NHS dentistry cannot be allowed to continue - the government must act urgently to bring dentistry back from the brink.

“The new government must not repeat the mistakes of the Conservatives that created swathes of dental deserts up and down the country.

“The Liberal Democrats have a comprehensive Dental Rescue Package that must be introduced as soon as possible so that patients can access the NHS care they need.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Analysis of ONS survey data is available here. 

Source: (Office for National Statistics, Experiences of NHS healthcare services in England, 5 December 2024).

The Liberal Democrats are setting out a plan to end dental deserts and bring back local NHS dentists across the UK.

Ending dental deserts

• Lib Dems are campaigning to guarantee access to an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent and emergency care, ending DIY dentistry and ‘dental deserts’.
  • We’d do this through a Dental Rescue Package that brings dentists back to the NHS from the private sector by fixing the broken NHS dental contract and using flexible commissioning to meet patient needs.
• We’d also introduce an emergency scheme to guarantee access to free NHS dental check-ups for those already eligible: children, new mothers, those who are pregnant and those on low incomes.
• We are campaigning to guarantee appointments for all those who need a dental check before commencing surgery, chemotherapy or transplant.

Preventing tooth decay

• We are pressing for supervised toothbrushing training for children in nurseries and schools.
• We are calling for VAT on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste to be scrapped.

Further Lib Dem policies:

1. Proper workforce planning for health and social care to be written into law, including projections for dentists and dental staff.
2. A reversal of the last Conservative government’s cuts to public health grants to support preventative dental health care, for example oral health programmes or promoting healthy eating choices.
3. Longer-term consideration of more major reform to put prevention first, with much-needed sustained investment for prevention and oral public health as part of the Public Health Grant.