'I called NHS dentists for 7 years but couldn't get in, so I pulled all my teeth out'

A desperate pensioner pulled out her last three teeth because she was unable to get an NHS dentist.

Linda Colla, 76, had been calling around practices for seven years trying to get an appointment but has just been stuck on waiting lists. The Mirror visited Linda in Devon as part of a series of special reports from one of Britain’s worst dentistry deserts. The British Dental Association has demanded that Labour urgently reforms the NHS dental contract to end the “horror show”. Local MP Caroline Voaden told the Mirror that not a single dentist in South Devon is now taking on new NHS patients.

Linda, a retired charity manager who receives pension credit, said: “My gums were all inflamed and were so painful I could only eat baby food and soup. I couldn't eat anything solid. In the end I just pulled my teeth out. I just kept wiggling it and wiggling it until it came out. When I went through childbirth with my daughter they always told me I had a high pain threshold.”

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Without the three teeth to anchor it, Linda’s lower denture plate wouldn’t fit. She eventually found the money to pay a private dentist £200 to fit a new one. The mother-of-two said: “My plate had to be adapted to have the three teeth put in but that cost me £200 which was my week’s pension gone in one fell swoop.

“I’m a pensioner and I should have free NHS dental treatment but I can’t get it, despite all the years I've paid into the NHS through taxes and National Insurance contributions.

“Let’s face it, if you paid into an insurance company and then when you needed them they didn’t deliver then there would be hell to pay. But that is what the government is doing.

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“Now I'm in a situation now where at the moment my dentures aren’t too bad but at some point I've either got to have them realigned or replaced. I’m going to have to find £1,500 for dentures and I’m on pension credit - one of the poorest people in the country so they tell me - I can’t afford that. And I shouldn’t have to go into debt to see a dentist.”

A number of different question responses in last year’s GP Patient Survey suggested Devon is one of the places in the country where it is hardest to get an appointment with an NHS dentist.

Linda said: “It's the most awful thing because your face is what you present to people. When you lose your teeth, you're losing a heck of a lot of self-confidence. My self-confidence went down the plughole. So I do worry for all the children that are losing their teeth. When they start off with bad oral health that is going to dog them for the rest of their lives.”

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After a decade of real terms funding cuts under the Tories the £3 billion NHS dental budget for England is now only enough to treat around half of the population.

Linda said: “There's not the budget for dentists to be able to take on more on the NHS, this is what I was told. They can't work for nothing. I must have called about a dozen NHS dentists and I’m willing to travel 20 miles but I can’t get in anywhere. I could afford to go private I’d get a dentist tomorrow.”

Caroline Voaden, Lib Dem MP for South Devon, told the Mirror: “Scarily, stories like Linda’s are not rare – with not a single dentist in South Devon taking on NHS patients. Urgent action is needed to attract and reward dentists who practise in less-served areas.”

The British Dental Association warned the Public Accounts Committee earlier this year that the Treasury has become reliant on practices delivering care at a loss - fuelling an exodus of NHS dentists into lucrative private work.

Caroline Voaden MP added: “Remuneration is one part of this, but we should also explore a contract that gives dentists greater flexibility, reduces red tape, and promotes the kind of work-life balance that mirrors what they find in the private sector.

“The sad truth is that this Government has been in office for a year now and has often spoken about reforming the NHS dental contract. But in the same period, South Devon has lost three dental surgeries, and more are on the brink. While the Government weighs its options, this crisis is deepening.”

Last week the Government published its Ten Year Health Plan which pledged that "by 2035 the NHS dental system will be transformed" - but the British Dental Association insists contract reform must happen much sooner.

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The professional body estimates a typical practice loses over £40 delivering a set of NHS dentures and £7 for every new patient exam. A Parliamentary report by the Health Select Committee has described the state of NHS dentistry as "unacceptable in the 21st century".

The NHS contract effectively sets quotas on the maximum number of NHS patients a dentist can see as it caps the number of procedures they can perform each year.

BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: “The crisis in NHS dentistry was made in Westminster. A failed contract has left patients taking matters into their own hands, or flying abroad for care that should be available in their own backyard. We can end this horror show, but we need to see real urgency and ambition.”

The Government is rolling out 700,000 extra emergency dental appointments and bringing in supervising toothbrushing for three to five year olds in the most deprived areas of the country.

It is currently in negotiations with the British Dental Association about reforming the NHS dental contract.