I was forced to pull ELEVEN of my own teeth out because I couldnt see a dentist

Publish date: 2022-12-02

CHILDREN’S lives are being blighted by the ordeal of having rotten teeth – leaving some even needing dentures.

Meanwhile, there are adults who resort to pulling out their own gnashers because of “dental deserts”, meaning they cannot get appointments.

The state of dental care in the UK has reached a crisis point.

Danielle Watt, 42, from Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, took matters into her own hands when gum disease forced her to pull 11 of her own rotten teeth from their sockets.

She had spent six years trying and failing to get herself and her two children, Oscar, 12, and Eliza, eight, on to an NHS dentist’s list.

Danielle said: “I’d be in agony as they got more and more wobbly, until they died. Then I would be able to squeeze them out.

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“I have been trying so hard to find an NHS dentist but there is nobody out there.”

Covid has only made things worse, as Billy Taylor, 33, of Axminster, Devon, discovered. He reached for pliers — and a few shots of whisky — earlier this month when his toothache became “excruciating”.

His son Leo, 11, had to watch to make sure he did not pass out. 

He said: “I had toothache running up to the Bank Holiday weekend. It was getting worse and worse. The pain was excruciating.

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“Then on the Tuesday, my face was swelling and I had a migraine on that side. It got really bad that night and I thought, ‘Why don’t I just do it myself?’.”

The pandemic has brought dental hygiene havoc. 

‘Shameful inequalities’

As well as putting people at risk of rotten teeth, diseases are going undiagnosed.

Diabetes, cancer, eating disorders, heart disease and high blood pressure can be detected in the mouth first.

James Goolnik, of Bow Lane Dental Group in London, said: “As a dentist, I do not just spot the signs of tooth decay and gum disease.

“I look for abnormalities and early signs of disease in the neck, muscles and glands of the neck.”

An estimated 2,000 dentists quit in 2021, leaving about four million people without access to NHS care. Children, in particular, are suffering.

Dr Mervyn Druian, a former NHS dentist who now practises privately, told The Telegraph that children’s NHS dentistry is “a scandal that has been ignored”. 

He added: “In 35 years, I’ve never known it so bad. Youngsters are going to grow up missing teeth and wearing a denture to replace them. 

“It’s tragic that a First World country is providing a dental service that would embarrass a Third World one.”

4million people do not have access to an NHS dentist.

Dentaid, a charity that treats patients in developing countries, has already been called in by Trinity Academy Grammar School in Halifax, West Yorks, to treat pupils whose dental hygiene is poor.

 Principal Charlie Johnson said: “We’ve had to take students to hospital because their tooth decay has been so bad.”.

The lack of NHS appointments led one family to fly 6,000 miles to Brazil to have their teeth seen to.

Stuart Woodmansey, of Market Weighton, East Yorks, told The Sun he couldn’t get an appointment “for years”, and that his Brazilian-born wife Kedma and their son Jacob, two, were unable to register with a local NHS dentist. Getting a flight to Sao Paulo was their only option.

They are just one family at the mercy of “dental deserts”, areas where so many practices have closed or ceased treating NHS patients that if people cannot pay privately, they are unable to access care. 

In England, 78.8 per cent of NHS dentists are not accepting new child patients, while 86.3 per cent are not taking new adult patients. 

In Scotland, patients are dealing with agonising waiting times — some up to 12 months for an appointment.

The British Dental Association has warned “80 per cent of Scottish dentists plan to cut their NHS commitment”. 

In April, Scottish Labour Covid recovery and health spokeswoman Jackie Baillie said the crisis “engulfing” NHS dentistry in Scotland has led to a “two-tier system, with those who can’t afford private care being left behind”.

For many, the past two years have seen us neglecting our teeth. New One Poll research, commissioned by Colgate, found a third of us let our oral health slip during lockdown and 36 per cent said they often forgot to brush.

Dentist Dr Hanna Kinsella says the pandemic has led to a huge decline in oral health and added: “Everyone’s routine was thrown into disarray. Toothbrushing is part of your daily routine.

" You wake up, get ready for work or school and brush your teeth.

"But suddenly a lot of people were waking up at different times or having lie-ins. They weren’t getting dressed or leaving the house.

“As a result, dentists have seen so many problems, especially inflamed and bleeding gums, which can be a warning sign of gum disease.”

Working as a community nurse during the pandemic, Laura Mills was so exhausted when she got home she would go straight to bed without brushing.

The 35-year-old from Sheffield says personal care went downhill and when she finally saw a dentist, she was in great pain.

She said: “Sometimes, in lockdown, I only brushed my teeth once a week or every ten days.

"It might even have been every two weeks, which is embarrassing to admit.

"I was working long days, plus overtime on days off.”

Before the pandemic, Laura had always taken good care of her teeth.

She said: “I went for six-monthly check-ups, I brushed every day and didn’t eat too much sugary food.

"But when Covid hit, I let myself go. I was eating rubbish, lots of sweets and sugary drinks.

"My diet was awful. I put on weight and it all started to affect my teeth.”

‘I needed seven fillings’ 

Laura began suffering toothache in January 2021, but was so busy she put off seeing a dentist.

She finally made an appointment in November, when her mouth was so painful she was struggling to eat.

She said: “It was so severe, I did not enjoy eating or drinking. I needed seven fillings and an extraction as my teeth were in such a state.”

It cost Laura around £200 to get her teeth fixed on the NHS and she now uses a special prescription toothpaste to help fight decay.

“It doesn’t matter how busy you are, you have to brush your teeth. I found out the hard way.” 

Claire Morton let her oral hygeine slip during lockdown and when she finally saw a dentist in June 2021, X-rays revealed she needed seven fillings.

The 45-year-old from Liverpool said the change in routine meant she often forgot to brush.

She was also busy home-schooling her children, Josh, 13, and Daniela, 11.

The health coach and meditation teacher, who also has step-daughter Elle, 23, said: “Before Covid, I’d brush my teeth three times a day.

“But then, all of a sudden, we weren’t going anywhere or seeing anyone. In the daytime, I was home-schooling the kids and trying to run my business online.

"I was brushing my teeth much less than usual.”

During the first lockdown, one large filling fell out while Claire was eating a sweet and she could not get it fixed as dentists were closed.

She said: “That made me conscious of what the kids were eating but I didn’t worry about me.

"I made sure they kept brushing and didn’t eat too much sugar. 

“But there I was drinking wine that is full of sugar, eating biscuits and adding sugar to my tea.”

Early last year, Claire’s mouth began to hurt and she noticed her teeth were turning yellow.

She said: “My mouth was sore because of the decay but it was still quite hard to get an appointment as many dentists had a backlog.”

All dental practices were closed for three months in March 2020 and only emergency appointments were available.

Millions of patients have not had a check-up since before the pandemic and some now face a three-year wait.

The Great British Oral Health Report, published in January, found 53 per cent of us have not seen a dentist in the past year and one in five had tried to treat themselves at home — some resorting to DIY extractions.

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Dr Kinsella said there was “huge” pressure on the NHS and it had been difficult for people to get seen. Some, like Claire, have been forced to go private. 

She paid around £1,000 for her fillings and said: “I finally feel like I can smile without worrying everyone is looking at my horrible teeth.”

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