Day in the life of an NHS dentist - and why it's nothing like you imagine
People's teeth are rotting away due to the rising number of “dental deserts” where they cannot access NHS dentists.
Some 37% of adults – 17.2 million – fail to get regular check-ups, the Office for Health Improvement Disparities revealed last week. Two million have never seen a dentist.
And a BBC investigation found 90% of practices in England are not accepting new adult NHS patients. The Mirror has launched the Dentists for All campaign for a service on the verge of collapse.
Dentist Oliver Pierce, who has an eight-year NHS waiting list in Hull, faces a “gut-wrenching” decision on whether to leave the NHS. Oliver, whose parents were NHS dentists, tells of unpleasant working conditions of 40 to 50 patients a day and the lack of Government action.
Here he describes a typical day...
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Oliver has lifted the lid on his life as a dentist (Andy Commins / Daily Mirror)7.20am Leave home. Local radio news is covering an NHS dentistry story about 8,500 people on a waiting list in Bridlington. 1,000 of those are probably on my waiting list too.
7.40am Pang in my heart when I remember I’ve got a denture review in.
8.10am 8am patient arrives. We have to put back all morning appointments.
8.30am Flick through appointment diary. All emergency slots are taken.
10am Try to squeeze my patient in ASAP to do an extraction.
10.01am Receptionist tells me they’ve got a mum on the phone, 111 has given them our number. Six-year-old boy with swelling. We tell them to come straight down. Waiting room is full.
11am Running 40 minutes behind now. It didn’t used to be like this, but the NHS dental contract and 15 years of below inflationary pay uplifts have squeezed this “service” to bare bones.
11.15am See the six-year-old lad. Needs eight teeth out.
11.40am 30min root canal treatment fails to arrive. Good news, allows us to catch up. Bad news, I don’t get paid if an NHS patient doesn’t show.
12pm Last patient before lunch asks me if I can see their son who can’t get an NHS dentist. I’ve got 2,100 patients on my NHS waiting list with a rough waiting time of seven to eight years.
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Lunch Solace of my day. Wolf down a sandwich and catch up on emails. Just six emails asking if we are accepting new NHS patients since last night.
1pm First patient after lunch tells me she heard about the practice with 8,500 on a waiting list and asks me why it’s so bad. “I’m just glad I’ve got a dentist,” she says. Remind myself this is 21st Century Britain we are in.
1.05pm Spot reception has squeezed a sit and wait emergency in my diary.
1.20pm Next patient also asks why it’s got so bad. Gentleman tells me: “But you never see a poor dentist”. Decide I’m not going to win this one.
2pm Radio advert for a “No Win No Fee” dental negligence law firm. Tell myself to change station, and £5,000 a year indemnity insurance is due.
3.20pm New NHS patient still in the chair. Needs eight fillings, four teeth out and gum treatment. Tell him the band 2 charge of £70.70 to which he looks horrified. “I’m an NHS patient,” he says. Tell him the [NHS] dental budget is £3billion a year, of which £800million is patient charges.
3.30pm Busy waiting room. The dental version of the M25 at rush hour with the post-school influx.
3.40pm Family of four fail to attend. Flick through dental forums on Facebook and see usual posts of dentists leaving the NHS in droves. Usual comments of “I’ve never looked back” from sunny grasslands of private dentistry.
4pm Agree to refer a 13-year-old for braces. Mum is angry at 18-month wait to be assessed.
4.20pm Hear shouting. Angry gentleman telling receptionist he pays his National Insurance so he should be able to see a dentist if he wants to.
4.50pm Last patient asks if I’ll go private. Debate whether to tell him the truth, or what he wants to hear.
5.05pm Check Units of Dental Activity [targets are set to measure a practice’s activity] completed today and how far behind we are. We need a miracle, or contract reform tomorrow, to avoid staring down the barrel of £100,000 in funding clawback.
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