Chilton dentist impact

Residents have urged health officials to support a dentist’s plea and open a new practice in a community affected by declining services, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar. 

The closure of Chilton’s last remaining NHS dental practice continues to have a lasting impact on patients in need of urgent and routine dental care.

Margaret Ward has lived in the County Durham town for 40 years and recalled regularly visiting the practice based at the local health centre for check-ups. But when the NHS-funded practice in the village closed, she was forced to look elsewhere. 

The 75-year-old said: “I am one of the lucky ones. I’ve managed to get into an NHS dentist with my daughter but we have to go to Darlington. I have a friend who has to go up to South Shields. 

“It was worrying when it closed. If I couldn’t have got in at Darlington, I would have had to pay for private. But that isn’t the end of it. If you need a filling or an abstraction you are paying a lot more than what you would on the NHS.”

Rob Hirst, a town councillor who moved to Chilton 15 months ago, hasn’t been as lucky. Despite months of searching, he has been unable to find an NHS dentist nearby. 

“I have always been with the NHS for dental care but I cannot find one without travelling a long distance,” he said.

As new housing developments are built throughout the village, Mr Hirst warned that the problem could worsen.  

The 52-year-old added: “There’s a massive community here now, with more housing being built, but we are stripping away all of the relevant amenities that we need. Doctors and dentists are stretched and getting appointments is almost impossible.”

County Councillor Stephen Bowron, of Chilton ward, said a dentist is ready to provide NHS treatment out of the former Burgess & Hyder unit in Chilton Health Centre but is being restricted by the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB).

Mr Hirst continued: “Reopening this place is the only real way of doing it because you could solve the problem. 

“We are all paying into national insurance and the healthcare system and we need something back. When I was a lad, the dentist was what you got alongside the doctors, but that’s been stripped away.” 

New Urgent Dental Access Centres opened in Barnard Castle, Durham City and Peterlee last year to improve access to dentists and provide accessible in-hours urgent dental care for patients.

But alternative sites around the county are not feasible for locals to attend, Cllr Bowron warned. 

He added: “We have a fully kitted-out dentist’s surgery. I have found a dentist who wants to use it, and it could open this week. 

“All it needs is the ICB to press the button and let him have the funds.”

Health officials say the situation in County Durham is reflective of a national crisis in NHS Dentistry, which has been heavily impacted by several factors, including the recruitment and retention of dentists and Covid. 

A spokesperson for the NHS ICB said: “We know that it is difficult for people to access NHS dental services at the moment. The situation in our region is mirrored across the country and is caused by a number of issues, including difficulties recruiting and training dentists and many dentists struggling to afford the cost of delivering NHS services.

“Some of the challenges faced by NHS dentistry require fundamental reforms to the dental contract and the Government has recently announced a number of measures aimed at improving NHS dentistry access, with a focus on urgent care and complex needs that will come into effect on 1 April 2026.

“We have recently invested £9.5 million on a new model of care to ensure people can manage urgent dental issues safely. This includes bringing online a network of 23 Urgent Dental Access Centres (UDACs) that will provide over 100,000 urgent dental appointments every year.