Jenni Murray on the state of NHS dentistry

There’s no need for Rachel Power, chief executive of the Patients Association, to inform me that the NHS dental service is shot to pieces. It’s broken, she says.

After a lifetime of excellent dental care, I now find my committed NHS dentist who, for years, took regular care of my whole family, has retired. What a bad time for one of her brilliant fillings, carried out years ago, to decide to go walkabout. It hurts. 

Can I find an NHS dentist to fix it? Of course I can’t – and I’m not alone.

The government spending watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), says plans to end the crisis in NHS dentistry are failing. The promised fleet of mobile dentistry vans has not materialised and the £20,000 golden hellos offered to anyone set to join the NHS has produced only one dentist.

The NAO also found that just 40% of adults in England saw a dentist in the two years to March 2024 and estimates 13 million are being denied NHS dental appointments. 

Stephen Kinnock, dentistry minister, says the government is committed to reform, but it will take time. But that is time we don’t have.

There has been a huge rise in patients doing what’s known as DIY dentistry. What could be more horrific in a civilised country that prides itself on ensuring free health care to all in their hour of need?

There is little pain as ghastly as toothache – I shudder at the memory of that inescapable nagging agony. I can see why people may be so desperate they’ll stoop to applying pliers to their own tooth – a moment’s suffering in a bid for relief.

I remember pulling my own teeth as a child as I was sick of the wobbling. Even the extraction of a very loose tooth was terrible. Doing it with no anaesthetic must be torture.

I can afford to get my filling sorted privately, but I resent the thought of it. I’ve paid my taxes and should trust the NHS, but I can’t. Thousands do not have that option. They can barely afford to heat the house.

It’s not enough to say prevention is better than cure and children must be taught to brush their teeth. Yes, they should care for their teeth, but still require a professional to check them every six months and put right what’s wrong – for free.

The most expensive thing I’ve ever had to fund, apart from the deposit on my house, was major dental work done privately.

As a young journalist I’d developed the habit of nibbling the little plastic caps at the end of the old Bic biros. I wrecked my upper front teeth.

My dentist, Norma, crowned them beautifully but, as I hit 65, they became wobbly. Not a good idea for a broadcaster dependent on perfect speech.

Norma wasn’t qualified to do implants and sent me to Paul, just off Harley Street, who’d give me a ‘Smile in a day’. All my upper teeth were removed. That same day a new set were implanted. Ten years on, they’re perfect.

That cost £30,000, which I managed thanks to an inheritance from my mother. She would have approved.

Neglect of dentistry is an abomination. If the teeth and gums are in poor condition the health of the whole body is compromised. Rotting teeth affect the ability to eat; it’s hard to speak correctly if the teeth are poor. Who will detect a potentially lethal mouth cancer if a dentist does not perform regular examinations?

A dentist should be seen as a vital member of the team essential to deliver healthcare and be provided alongside a GP. They should be available in every community, well paid but at no cost at all to all those in need.

I’m old enough to recall how terrible things were for the generation that preceded mine. The NHS came just in time for us baby boomers, but my mother – only 24 when she gave birth to me – had false teeth, as did my father. I was shocked when she said they were a 21st birthday present. 

A lifetime of dentistry was so frighteningly expensive, her parents thought the extraction of every tooth and some ‘nice replacements’ would save her pain and cost for ever. She said she was happy with their gift – the falsies were a nuisance, but she never had to have a filling.

Is this the direction in which we’re going? I sincerely hope not.