Rural NHS Dental services are decaying 

With everything that has been going on lately, it's not surprising that at Westminster, some things are seemingly swept under the carpet and ignored.

There is one issue which continues to hurt rural communities like ours here in the West Country and that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak cannot not avoid any longer – the dire situation facing NHS dentistry.

I receive lots of emails from local people who are finding it all but impossible to get an appointment with an NHS dentist. The situation is so dire that many are wondering if local services will ever recover.

I am sure that almost everyone knows someone who's been left facing long, painful waits to see a dentist.

The huge backlog is caused by several factors: Dentists leaving the practice, a failure to recruit new people into the profession, and the terms of the NHS dental contract.

According to figures from the British Dental Association, the number of available NHS dentist appointments available each month had fallen from 3.5 million to 2.3 million in June, and in August the BBC revealed that not a single dentist in Devon was taking on new patients.

As a result, so many people are left with a choice of paying to go private or resorting to dangerous DIY dentistry at home.

Recently an 82-year-old man told me how he couldn't get an NHS appointment anywhere within 60 miles of his home. As a result, he had to pay almost £2,000 for private treatment as the issue was urgent.

This simply isn't good enough. 

Nobody should be forced to live in pain or have to carry out their own procedures. 

The current NHS dental contract is just not fit for purpose. It fails to pay properly, meaning many dentists simply cannot afford to take on lots of NHS patients.

This is causing many dentists to cut back on the number of patients they can see, or to stop taking on new NHS patients all together. 

Earlier this year, the Honiton Dental Centre was forced to cut back on the number of appointments after three dentists left to pursue careers in the private sector. 

But the worst thing about this whole situation is that the Government simply doesn't seem to get it.

Time and time again Liberal Democrats have called for changes to the NHS contract and pension rules, to help bring more people into the profession, and yet each time we've been rebuffed by Ministers.

They seem more content to sit on their hands than actually do anything useful. Earlier this year they threw £50 million of taxpayer's money at the problem and hoped it would go away.

The result? The Government has no record of who claimed the money and in large parts of the country, not a single extra appointment was created because of it.

Enough is enough. The Government must take urgent action to tackle this backlog and ensure people can access NHS dental services when they need them.

Since they seem to have little idea of what to do, here are some straightforward suggestions from the Liberal Democrats:

• 1. Boost funding for front line dentistry, particularly in rural areas.
• 2. Reform the NHS Dental contract so it properly pays dentists to take on NHS patients.
• 3. Increase the number of dentist training places and put a focus on patient need.
• 4. Launch an emergency scheme to ensure children, pregnant women and young mothers have access to their free check-ups on time.

Failure to do this will expose how little the Conservatives care about helping all those across our towns and villages who are waiting for a dental appointment, some of whom suffering in silence.

I hope they listen and act soon.