Thanks for coming Rishi but we're not actually taking new patients! Surgery Sunak visited to promote bold plan to fix NHS dental crisis has shut its books to new registrations

T he Prime Minister met staff and patients at Gentle Dental in Newquay today READ MORE: Staggering charts expose reality of dental crisis plaguing millions

A dental practice visited by Rishi Sunak today to promote the Government’s long-awaited recovery plan is not accepting new adult NHS patients.

The PM met staff and patients at Gentle Dental in Newquay, where he boasted he was taking ‘very significant’ action to end the ever-worsening appointment crisis.

His blueprint – which involves giving dentists ‘golden hellos’ worth up to £20,000 to move to ‘deserts – marked a ‘very significant new investment in dentistry’ allowing everyone to ‘get the access they need’, he said.

But the practice’s own website states it is not taking on new adult NHS patients or those entitled to free dental care.

The crisis in NHS dentistry has been brewing for years, with some Brits forced to pull out their own teeth with pliers or travel abroad for treatment.

rishi Sunak met staff and patients at Gentle Dental in Newquay (pictured), where he boasted he was taking ‘very significant’ action to end the ever-worsening appointment crisis

His blueprint – which involves giving dentists ‘golden hellos’ worth up to £20,000 to move to ‘deserts – marked a ‘very significant new investment in dentistry’ allowing everyone to ‘get the access they need’, he said. Pictured, Mr Sunak at Gentle Dental today

But Gentle Dental’s own website states it is not taking on new adult NHS patients or those entitled to free dental care. Pictured, Gentle Dental in Newquay

Others have queued from 4am to gain a spot at dentistry practices that have opened up their list to NHS patients in scenes described as being ‘reminiscent of Soviet-era Eastern Europe’.

Under Mr Sunak’s plan to fix the appointments crisis plaguing millions, dentists will be offered up to £50 to see patients who haven’t had a check-up in two years.

Around 240 dentists — roughly one per cent of the workforce — will be given a one-off bonus of up to £20,000 for working in under-served areas for up to three years.

‘Dental vans’ will also be rolled out in rural and coastal areas so people in the most isolated communities will still be able to access help.

The Government is also planning to controversially add fluoride to the drinking water of millions of Brits in a bid to passively protect their oral health.

Officials hope the measures could see up to 2.5million additional NHS appointments delivered for patients over the next 12 months.

But the plan — unveiled 10 months after it was promised — was slammed by dental bosses and politicians for not going far enough, with one saying that it amounted to ‘rearranging the deckchairs’.

Health leaders instead called for ‘radical reform’ of the dental contract, accusing Mr Sunak of U-turning on his pledge to restore the crippled industry.

Speaking to journalists during his visit to Gentle Dental, Mr Sunak said: ‘The new funding that we’ve announced will, I think, make a significant difference, and soon.

‘This is going to be rolled out imminently and two and a half million more appointments to take us up to pre-Covid levels of NHS dentistry, I think, is a significant step.’

He acknowledged it ‘had not been easy for people to access NHS dentistry over the past couple of years’.

However, he did not say whether he could guarantee everyone access to an NHS dentist.

Chair of the British Dental Association (BDA), Eddie Crouch, said: ‘Rishi Sunak is seeing what life is like for millions across this country.

‘The difference is he has options.

‘The PM won’t have to queue around the block to get an appointment.

‘He won’t face travelling hundreds of miles for care. He’ll never find himself reaching for a set of pliers.

This chart shows the number of dentists who carried out NHS activity each year, the figure dropped sharply during the Covid pandemic but has slightly recovered to just over 24,000 according to the latest data

Latest figures show only 43 per cent of over-18s were seen by a dentist in the 24 months to June this year, compared to more than half in the same period before the pandemic struck

NHS dental services for children have also suffered, with only 56 per cent seeing a dentist within the last year, 700,000 fewer than pre-pandemic

‘The paucity of the Government’s plan means many patients will keep facing these horrific choices.’

Downing Street, however, suggested the decision to visit a dentist that was not accepting patients was ‘deliberate’ in order to hear from a surgery that has ‘experienced barriers’ to providing appointments for patients.

A Number 10 spokeswoman said: ‘As I understand this was a deliberate choice, wanting to speak to a surgery to hear from them about the challenges that they’re facing so they can take on more NHS patients.

‘Obviously we want to make sure that everyone who wants an NHS appointment is able to get one.’

In December, NHS figures revealed eight in 10 dentists in England were not accepting new adult patients.

Of the 4,969 dental surgeries across the country who have recently updated their status, 82 per cent were not adding new over-18s to their list.

Another 71 per cent weren’t taking new children.

Latest NHS figures also show roughly 26million adults — roughly 60 per cent of the population — haven’t had a check-up in the last two years.

This is one of the lowest proportions since modern records start in 2006.

NHS dentistry has been in crisis for years, with leaders claiming the sector has been chronically underfunded, making it financially unviable to carry out treatments.

Exacerbating the problem is that, as more dentists leave the NHS, those that remain become swamped by more and more patients.

Overall, 18.1million adults saw their dentist in the two years to June 2023, up from 16.4million in the 24 months to June 2022. But it is still well below the 21million seen in the two years to June 2020

Hundreds of would-be patients were pictured queuing outside a newly-opened NHS dental surgery in Bristol this week. Video shows hundreds of people, including children and the elderly, queuing in the wind and rain outside St Pauls Dental Practice, with some using walking sticks for to stand in line, while others seemed to have brought along their own chairs. Pictured, patients outside St Pauls Dental Practice on Wednesday

On the third day of queues they were met with a sign on the door saying: ‘We are not enrolling anymore patients.’ Police were even forced to turn some patients away earlier in the week, cutting off a line which snaked hundreds of metres. Pictured, the line of people on Tuesday outside of St Pauls Dental Practice

Brits have also told how they have been sat on waiting lists for months and travel abroad to see a dentist after finding it impossible to get an NHS appointment, slamming the system as ‘Victorian’.

Hundreds of would-be patients were pictured queuing outside a newly-opened NHS dental surgery in Bristol this week.

Video shows hundreds of people, including children and the elderly, queuing in the wind and rain outside St Pauls Dental Practice, with some using walking sticks for to stand in line, while others seemed to have brought along their own chairs.

But on the third day of queues they were met with a sign on the door saying: ‘We are not enrolling anymore patients.’

Police were even forced to turn some patients away earlier in the week, cutting off a line which snaked hundreds of metres.

Experts said the queues would be replicated around the country if more practices were taking on NHS patients.