'Patients have given up on NHS dentist places'

5 hours ago

Ellen Knightin Donnington

News image — Angela Mayhew is the practice manager at Serene Dental, where hundreds of NHS places are going unused

Ellen Knight/BBC Photo of Mayhew looking into the camera and smiling slightly. She is wearing a black jumper with an orange vest underneath. She has chin-length dark hair, and is stood in the practice waiting room. Behind her, a large sign reads 'Serene Dental', and a blue notice board is covered in brightly coloured posters. — Angela Mayhew is the practice manager at Serene Dental, where hundreds of NHS places are going unused

The manager of a dental surgery has said patients appear to have given up on finding NHS appointments.

Serene Dental, in Donnington, Telford, has more than 500 NHS spaces available - but is struggling to find patients to fill those slots.

"We've done 4,000 leaflet drops, we're on Facebook and we just are not getting the patients in the door", practice manager Angela Mayhew said.

A spokesperson for NHS England said the organisation has "delivered hundreds of thousands more dental appointments compared to last year," adding that they "know there is far more to do."

It is in sharp contrast to scenes elsewhere in the country - in Bristol in 2025, prospective patients queued outside dental practices in the hopes of registering as an NHS patient.

Serene Dental has patients coming from as far afield as Bristol, Chester - and even Edinburgh.

"It's the first time in a long, long time that we've got a shortage of NHS patients," Mayhew said.

"I think [people] have just got fed up of ringing everywhere," she added.

Another explanation, Mayhew said, is affordability.

"If they needed, for example, a crown, bridge or a denture, you're looking at £300 plus," she explained.

"So people are going to say, do I feed my children or do I go to the dentist?"

Ellen Knight/BBC Raj and Dr Gurung stood side by side. Raj is wearing a berry-coloured scrub top, and Dr Gurung is wearing dark blue scrubs. Raj has dark wavy hair, tied back in a half-up hairstyle. Dr Gurung has her dark hair tied back into a bun. They're both stood in a treatment room, in front of the dentists chair. The room has white walls and white ceilings. — Nikitha Miriam Raj and Dr Shabnam Gurung work at Serene Dental in Telford

Dr Shabnam Gurung is a dentist at the practice, and thinks patient numbers are falling as "over the years, the message has gone out that there aren't any NHS places."

"People have given up trying to find a place," she added.

Dental therapist Nikitha Miriam Raj said it may also be down to fear.

"People are terrified of going to the dentist, even though they have to take care of the oral cavity.

"It isn't until they have an actual tooth problem that they realise they have to see the dentist," she said.

It is this reticence to attend appointments that means the practice is seeing a "high rate of decay" amongst some patients.

According to Mayhew, the practice are "seeing new patients that are actually needing a lot of work done.

"They need a lot of periodontal work doing - gum disease, deep cleans etcetera."

As well as this, the practice is also seeing "16-year-olds who have never seen a dentist and need a lot of work doing".

Ellen Knight/BBC Moore pictured looking into the camera and smiling slightly. She is wearing a dark grey scrub top and has her dark hair tied back. She is stood in a treatment room, which has white walls and a dark wood door. Behind her you can see various white pieces of medical equipment, a sink, and hand sanitiser pumps. — Senior dental nurse Meg Moore said appointments can be "expensive"

Meg Moore, who is a senior dental nurse at Serene Dental, said she believes "a lot of people don't want to come unless they have a problem."

"That's a shame," she said, "because if they came earlier we might have been able to stop that problem from arising."

Additionally, if people figure they have no issues with their teeth, appointments on the NHS are "quite expensive", Moore said.

"Sometimes your check-up is five to ten minutes, so for a lot of people that's a lot of money for such a small amount of time."

A spokesperson for NHS England said the organisation has "delivered hundreds of thousands more dental appointments compared to last year," adding that they "know there is far more to do to make sure people get easy access to NHS dental services."

A statement from the Department for Health and Social Care said the government has "taken action over the past 20 months to stop the rot and rebuild NHS dentistry."

The spokesperson said they have "reinvested nearly £400 million" into the field and are "bolstering the workforce with more dentists."

Follow BBC Shropshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.