Halifax man turns to 'DIY dentistry' after being removed from NHS list

A Halifax man has turned to 'DIY dentistry' after being struck off the NHS patients list following an incident during his last treatment at his local practice.

Anthony Martin, from Halifax, has suffered a phobia of dentists for a long time, but visited his practice regularly before the pandemic. However, in 2019 he visited Whitehill Dental Practice for a tooth extraction, and the procedure led to him suffering from side effects.

According to Anthony, he received an injection into a back molar when things went wrong. He said: "He gave me an injection into the back tooth, a molar, it's one where they put an injection down through a hole in the tooth, which he explained to me afterwards. As I were laid back, it went into the top of my head, I could feel it in my head.

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"Because your mouth's open, you're numb, you couldn't really say anything. I thought, perhaps that's part of the normal process.

"Within 24 hours, I'd had terrible shakes. terrible tremors, so I went straight back to the dentist, who's been doing it for 30 years. I've never experienced that, which obviously alarmed me, so he took a note of it."

Anthony returned a few days later as the tremors were still continuing and was eventually sent to the hospital to see consultants. However, despite his efforts, the tremors continued.

During the next two to three years, these tremors continued, but they gradually lessened over time. However, this coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, and so Anthony was not able to visit the dentist for a long period of time.

This worsened his phobia of dentists, but as he was unable to visit anyway, he was unaware that he had been struck off the NHS list.

After the pandemic, Anthony says he was not contacted by the dentist to return. He said: "They said they sent an email to people saying that, basically, Covid was over and to come back to the dentist. Well I never got that email."

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Anthony suffers from bruxism, and needs treatment on his teeth to deal with the ailment, and so "plucked up the courage" to call the dentist in March this year, when they told him he had been removed from the NHS list. While he is now on the waiting list, he has been unable to receive any NHS treatments.

As a result, Anthony visited a private dentist, who had an offer out for a discount on a consultation, to see what work needed to be done, and how much it would cost. He was told that the treatment would cost around £3,035 to stop any further damage to his teeth as a result of grinding.

He said: "I'm now a victim, twice of that practice. The first was three years of tremors and now being struck off, leaving me to do my own dentist, which is proving somewhat difficult I must admit."

One of Anthony's teeth is exposed, which makes it painful to drink cold or warm liquid and so he has been using equipment to try and treat it, with only limited success. Anthony said: "I just can't believe I've got into this situation. I feel like, 'am I the only person with this?'

"To go through this three years of tremors only to be booted off the same practice and now having to do DIY dental care because I can't find anywhere that will take on an NHS patient, even if I pluck up the courage to go."

Whitehill Dental Practice have said they are unable to comment on Anthony's situation.