Grin and bear it: The impact of the dental crisis😬
An investigation into the impact of the dental crisis + problems on Exchange Street.
Few things are more painful than toothache, but trying to find an NHS dentist taking new patients is impossible. Today, we're investigating the impact, the solutions - and sharing some of your horror stories.
NHS figures analysed by The Seeker show 133,000 fewer adults in Norfolk saw a dentist in the last two years compared to before the pandemic. That means only a third of us has seen one since 2020, compared to half of us pre-Covid. It’s no surprise given how many surgeries have shut recently, but it is still a staggering number.
To try to stem the crisis, NHS England is changing the way it pays dentists. But on Thursday, when a local NHS boss was grilled by Norfolk councillors, few solutions were put forward (other than self-medicating with whisky - no joke 🙄).
