Dental deserts: around 23 million working days have been lost to dental pain in the UK new survey suggests

Around 23 million working days have been lost to dental pain, new research suggests. 

The latest report by health insurance company SimplyHealth has revealed that nearly three in 10 (28%) of people in the UK have had to take time off work due to tooth pain, and around one in ten have taken more than a week off work because of the pain. 

The figures were uncovered by Denplan, part of Simplyhealth, as part of its 2023 Oral Health Survey of over 5,000 consumers in the UK.

The NHS "dental deserts" have left 12% of people reported trying to book a NHS dental appointment, but that they have not been seen yet because waiting lists are too long. 

With the rising cost-of-living impacting household incomes, "the perceived cost of accessing dental treatments may be putting people off looking after their oral health" the report says. 

Health officials have described NHS dentistry as “totally unacceptable” and a “genuine crisis”.

Almost a third (32%) of people worry about the cost of going to a dentist, with 23% concerned that dentists will advise unaffordable treatments. Over a third (34%) of respondents say they have previously postponed or cancelled a dentist appointment because they could not afford it, while 11% said their financial circumstances mean they can now no longer afford to go to the dentist. 

As many as 85,000 calls a month to NHS 111 are from people seeking emergency dental help, which is more than one in every 20 and around 90% of the 7,000 dental practices in England are not accepting new NHS patients.

Sir Ed Davey, the Liberal Democrats leader, said the shortage of dentists and appointments had led to “dental deserts”.

Hannah, 25, from Ashford, told The Telegraph she was “left in excruciating pain” by “a root canal with an NHS dentist that went wrong” and faced a long wait for a follow-up appointment to put it right.

After a week, she called 111, paid £650 for an emergency weekend appointment and went privately to have the problem fixed.

The self-employed, single mother said: “If I don’t work, I don’t get paid. It was such a stressful time, I was at risk of losing clients.

“If you haven’t experienced toothache, it’s almost impossible to describe just how debilitating it is,” she said. “I’m also diabetic, and couldn’t eat which made the situation even worse. The ordeal has cost me £3,000.”

The NHS workforce plan proposes increasing dental training places by 40 per cent and introducing a dental “tie-in” to force dentists to complete a certain amount of NHS work.

Catherine Rutland, dentist and clinical director at Simplyhealth’s Denplan, said “dental care provision in the UK is far behind where it should be” and called for “a model where NHS and private dentistry work together to ensure preventative care is prioritised”.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said they would soon be setting out plans “to improve access and increase the number of NHS dentists”.

They added that “23 per cent more courses of treatment were delivered last year compared to the previous year and 1.7 million more adults and 800,000 more children are receiving NHS dental care”.

An NHS spokesman said: “Last year, the NHS announced the first significant reforms to dentistry services since 2006, which will help dental teams carry out even more treatment for patients.

“Anyone with concerns about their dental health should contact their local dentist as they usually would or, for urgent help, seek advice from NHS 111.”