According to a survey, the majority of NHS dental practices in the UK are unable to offer appointments to new adult patients.
The British Dental Association (BDA) and BBC identified 8,533 dental practices in the UK believed to have NHS contracts, and attempts were made to call them all.
About England91% of NHS practices were not taking on new adult patients, 4,933 out of 5,416, rising to 97% in the East Midlands and 98% in the South West, North West and Yorkshire and the Humber.
Of those practices that do not hire adults in England, 23% (1124) said they had an open waiting list and 16% (791) said the waiting time was a year or more, or could not say how long it would be.
Of the 152 local authorities in England, BBC researchers failed to reach practices accepting new adult NHS patients in 56 (37%) local authorities.
Without real reform and fair funding, NHS dentistry will die and our patients will pay the price
In England, 79% of NHS practices did not accept new child patients – 4,293 out of 5,416.
The BBC’s calls showed that in Northern Ireland 90% of NHS practices were not accepting new adult patients.
For Scotland this was 82% and for Wales 93%.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of the British Dental Association’s general dental practice committee, said: “NHS dentistry is at a tipping point, with millions unable to get the care they need and with more dentists every day that goes by.
“We are seeing the results of years of chronic neglect, put into overdrive by the pressures of the pandemic. The question now is whether the ministers will act before it is too late?
“Nothing we’ve heard from the government so far gives us any confidence that this service has a future.
“Without real reform and fair funding, NHS dentistry will die, and our patients will pay the price.”
The BDA previously said that as of March 2020, some 3,000 dentists have reportedly stopped NHS work entirely.
A BDA survey of 2,200 high street dentists in England found that 45% have reduced their NHS obligations since the start of the pandemic.
The figures, shared with the PA news agency, also showed that 75% are “likely” to reduce or further reduce their NHS obligation over the next 12 months.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “Improving patients’ access to NHS dental care is a government priority and the new dental contract reforms announced last month are an important step.” , enabling the best performing practices to see more patients, making better use of the range of professionals working in the sector, such as dentists, hygienists and nurses, and rewarding dentists more fairly for providing more complex care.
“The NHS commits approximately £3bn to dentistry each year and has earned an additional £50m to clear Covid backlogs, building on the unprecedented £1.7bn of support we have provided during the pandemic to help teams and protecting patients by paying dental offices for the work they would normally have performed had it not been for the Covid regulations.”