LUKE MARSDEN: The pain of a dental backlog

Where the heck have our dentists gone?
Dentists have a lot of catching up to doDentists have a lot of catching up to do
Dentists have a lot of catching up to do

Or a better question: where have they been?

As I write this, I’m now on day six of having a cracked molar (last time I’m eating a Chicago Town pizza). After a week of chewing on the other side of my mouth as though I’m recovering from facial surgery, I’ve had enough!

I’m hoping by the time you read this my tooth would’ve been fixed. The earliest appointment was this week, and I was advised that if I was in any pain I would have to head to an emergency dentist in Manchester and that wouldn’t be cheap. My regular dentist assured me she was triple-booked. I haven’t seen her since February 2019.

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I did investigate paying for private dental care but considering I’ve ultimately been paying towards dentists for the past 18 months, and they have been nowhere to be seen, on principle I held out for my NHS dentist appointment.

The advice I was given during my week of dental drama was to “keep brushing and if it gets worse get one of those DIY dental kits from Boots.” Is this the best they have to offer us taxpayers?

You only have to Google Covid DIY dental work to see what the public have had to put up with for nearly two years. GPs are seemingly hiding behind their screens and dentists are reluctantly picking up the mouth mirror again.

Covid has gone from a pandemic to an excuse, and it is wearing thin. I’m luckily that I spotted I was chewing my own tooth inbetween bits of pizza, and I haven’t had an infection but many have had it a lot worse and I can’t imagine they are smiling through gritted teeth at the current wait times.

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