Debate hears concerning stories of dental crisis

The ongoing dentistry crisis will endanger the lives of County Durham residents if access to treatment continues to be restricted, NHS officials have been warned, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Bill Edgar.

A debate on the struggling state of dental services in the region heard concerning stories of people unable to access urgent treatment and experiencing long waits after calling the NHS 111 service.

Health bosses 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.

During the County Hall debate, Cllr Cathy Hunt said the industry requires reform.

The Woodhouse Close member said: “When you have an infection in your body you can go to the pharmacy, which can help prescribe antibiotics.

“But when it comes to oral, nobody will touch you. If you can’t go to the pharmacy, GP or dentist, we are running the risk of fatalities from tooth decay and infection. It’s a horrendous situation.”

Sedgefield county councillor Chris Lines warned of an “oral health time bomb” in the region as people struggle to access dental services.

He said: “Where there are low-level issues, my concern is people are ignoring them, masking them, or dealing with them through painkillers, which is a dangerous pathway.”

Eddy Adam, of Aycliffe West ward, said services have not been the same since the pandemic five years ago.

The Labour councillor told the meeting: “During Covid, my dentist closed. Trying to find another was virtually impossible in Aycliffe and the surrounding area.

“My wife had an abscess in her tooth, contacted 111, and they said there was nothing they could do about it.

“She contacted five dentists and not one would treat her. That was 72 hours she had to wait.

As of November 2024, there were 47 NHS General Dental Service contracts in County Durham.

A total of 705,348 Units of Dental Activity (UDAs) were commissioned – a measure of the amount of work done during dental treatment.

Yet, the county-wide issues are due to be further compounded after two dental practices announced they will terminate their NHS contracts.

Burgess and Hyder branches in Bowburn and Spennymoor will both end NHS treatment on 31 January.

Issues in County Durham include patients being deregistered by their practice, without being informed and only finding out this had happened when they contacted the practice to make an appointment.

Cllr Viv Anderson said the issue has become commonplace in the community. “People in my division say they were unregistered from practices during Covid for non-attendance and are now struggling to access any services,” she said.

“My dentist in Sedgefield went private and fortunately, they offer a monthly scheme, I’m one of the lucky ones. 

“But there are genuine concerns about being de-registered, what do they do now? Other dentists are turning them away.” 

An NHS report states: “We are regularly seeing dental providers giving notice on their NHS contracts as they are unable to meet local demand and the provision we have commissioned from them.

“This means local people are experiencing problems accessing NHS dentists areas of particular challenge include North Cumbria, North Northumberland, Darlington, parts of County Durham and Sunderland.”

Two short-term Urgent Dental Access Centres are due to open in County Durham later this year to improve access to dentistry, following a pilot program in Darlington.

The new services will provide an enhanced and more reliable local solution to the provision of accessible in-hours urgent dental care for patients. 

Last week, the Health Secretary said NHS dentistry is at “death’s door”, as he restated his commitment to rolling out an extra 700,000 urgent dental appointments.

Wes Streeting said the dental appointments would be delivered “as fast as we can”, whilst also pledging to fix the ‘front door’ to the NHS with additional funding for GP surgeries.

During health questions in the Commons, he said: “Today there are 1,399 fewer full-time equivalent GPs than in 2015, and NHS dentistry is at death’s door.

“This Government will fix the front door to the NHS.

“We’ve announced an additional £889 million in funding for general practice in 2025-26, the biggest boost in years, and started hiring an extra 1,000 GPs to the front line already.”