Richard Foord MP calls for urgent plan to fix South West “dental desert”

The discussion was initiated by Richard Foord, MP for the Honiton & Sidmouth constituency, who has described Devon as a "dental desert”, amid scores of complaints from constituents, some of whom are forced to pull out their own teeth.

Mr Foord, who has been campaigning on the lack of dentistry services since his election in 2022, said that due to years of neglect by the Conservative government, the number of adults able to access an NHS dentist locally has plummeted since 2015.

The number of people seeing an NHS dentist in the South West and Devon has fallen sharply

According to parliamentary data, in 2015, just over half (51 percent of adults) in the South West saw a dentist, slightly above the English average of 50 per percent. But by 2024, this figure has fallen to just over one third (34 percent), well below the current English average of 40.3 percent.

The situation is even bleaker in Devon. In 2015, 55 per cent of adults were able to see a dentist, but this number has now plunged to just over 37 percent.

The number of NHS dentists in Devon has reduced from 549 to 497 over the past decade.

Some of my constituents are forced to pull out their own teeth

Mr Foord said, “The situation is dire. In Devon, it’s come down to a choice for some of my constituents: either pull out your own teeth or pay thousands for private care.

“This unacceptable decline is the direct result of 14 years of Conservative neglect of our health services.”

One of Mr Foord’s constituents from Axminster, who prefers to remain anonymous, has shared his experience.

Three years ago, after not being able to get an NHS dental appointment the constituent removed his tooth himself describing it as “gruesome but fine.”

He told Richard that he’s “not complaining at all” about having to pull out his own tooth.

Mr Foord added: “Each NHS dentist in Devon is now responsible for 2,480 people. While the numbers are grim, the effect it is having on my constituents’ lives troubles me the most.

“In desperation, my constituents are contacting NHS England, Devon Healthwatch, and even the complaints department at NHS Devon, who admitted the dire state of the system but could offer no real solutions.

“Local people spend hours on the ‘Find an NHS dentist’ website, only to find practices listed that in reality, had no availability for new patients. When there was an available clinic it is often around 100 miles away. It’s not an option for many people to travel that far, especially for several treatments.”

Mr Foord added: “Dentists appear to be either busy, crowded or not accepting patients, leaving my constituent in the dark, he reached out to me having nowhere else to go.

Dental health is not a luxury, it is a basic right 

“Dental health is not a luxury; it is a basic right. Yet, despite this, the Conservatives allowed NHS dentistry to collapse.”

Richard Foord today calls on the health secretary to urgently implement a raft of measures

Today, Richard Foord is calling on the health secretary to urgently implement a raft of measures, including:

• An increase to the number of dentist training places in the UK
• Recognition of EU trained dentists’ qualifications
• Rural areas in the South West receiving the same provision of NHS dentistry as those in urban areas
• Urgent implementation of the government’s manifesto commitment of 700,000 more dental appointments