TRUE HORROR OF NHS DENTIST CRISIS

EXPOSED: FAMILIES' AGONY. NUMBER OF APPOINTMENTS FOR PATIENTS HAS FALLEN BY A THIRD. WOMAN USED PLIERS TO REMOVE TOOTH...SOME PUT GLUE IN CAVITIES.

- MARTIN BAGOT

THE shortage of NHS dentists is causing horrific suffering, with patients pulling their own teeth.

NHS appointments in England are down from 3.5 million a month pre-pandemic to just 2.3 million.

British Dental Association boss Eddie Crouch blamed "a decade of underfunding" by the Tories.

PATIENTS RESORT TO DIY DENTISTRY

They carry out own extractions amid NHS crisis

DESPERATE patients are resorting to horrific DIY dentistry as they find it impossible to get NHS treatment.

Jamie Ellison, 49, who has been unable to sign up with an NHS dentist for 15 years, used pliers to take out his own tooth. He said: "I would not recommend it. It was a desperate thing to do.

Mr Ellison, from Huddersfield, West Yorks, said: "I have not seen a dentist for about 15 years. God knows, I have tried."

Nicola, a part-time nurse in Sussex, told of being unable to find an NHS dentist to repair a broken tooth.

She told the newspaper: "I had to resort to buying a pair of long-nose pliers to try and extract the tooth.

She made it worse and ended up going to a private dentist, which cost £650, which she is still paying off.

Hannah Whelan, Manchester, from who works in the NHS, told of being unable to afford a root canal extraction.

She said: "I used to super glue the infected molars and take paracetamol. I managed to finally get an extraction done after fainting at work from the pain.