Charity Dentists Filling Gaps In NHS Funding

A charity set up to provide dentistry in third-world countries has opened a clinic in West Yorkshire, amid claims desperate people have resorted to pulling their teeth out with pliers.

Dentaid says a shortage of NHS funding is leaving vulnerable patients without access to affordable dental care.

The British Dental Association (BDA) says the organisation has exposed "a very serious problem with the commissioning of dentistry" in England.

Dentaid's weekly clinic in Dewsbury opened in December and the charity has now announced plans to expand into Leeds and Huddersfield.

In the past week, four people in agony with toothache received emergency treatment from volunteer dentists including owner Nick O'Donovan and Ian Wilson, a colleague from Leeds.

Three of them said they could not afford the emergency fees charged by NHS dentists, which can run into hundreds of pounds.

Nathaniel Dickinson, a 24-year-old father of two who works at a supermarket, told Sky News he had lost more than a stone in weight from pain after paying £55 for emergency treatment three weeks ago in Batley.

He says he cannot afford to pay again.

"When I'm not on a big wage I can't afford that. I can't cope anymore, so that's why I come here," Mr Dickinson said.

A 19-year-old patient told Sky News she had been unable to register with an NHS dentist because no practices in Dewsbury are accepting new patients.

The BDA says it has received reports of people in the area pulling their own teeth out with pliers and called on the NHS to increase dentistry funding.

"There are dentists that can do the work, but the NHS will simply not pay for it, and the patients we are talking about here do not have the money to pay privately for their dental treatment," says the BDA's Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen

Kathryn Hilliam, from NHS England, acknowledged that problems exist in West Yorkshire, but said they were working to tackle the issues.

"This work will then help shape the future commissioning of dental services in the area," she added.