The centre, which is run by Care UK on behalf of the NHS, has launched the service which offers advanced X-ray services as well as complex or multiple extractions and surgery on impacted teeth.
Christine Wardman, Care UK’s hospital director at the centre in Newlands Way, said: “Last year we began to realise that there was a real shortage of oral surgery services for NHS patients living in the Leeds and Bradford area.
“Waiting times were getting longer and many nervous patients were faced with having difficult tooth extractions in their dentist’s chair or simply trying to live with the pain until they could get a hospital appointment.”
The team devised a service that could offer complex extractions such as the surgical removal of impacted teeth (including wisdom teeth), surgical removal of teeth and surgical removal of retained roots. The centre can offer general anaesthetic and sedation, depending on individual requirements.
The treatment centre has three fully equipped theatres and a comprehensive range of diagnostic equipment and services, including MRI, CT, ultrasound, X-ray and a state-of-the-art service which carries out a panoramic dental X-ray of the upper and lower jaws in 2D – an option which Christine would like to see offered beyond the centre.
She said: “I’m now evaluating when we can make the services of the special X-ray machine available to local NHS dentists who may not have the resources to invest in such a high tech piece of kit, but who would like the in-depth picture it paints of a patient’s teeth and jaw.”
The service has already had a major benefit to the life of Linda Knight, who was in very severe pain caused by an impacted wisdom tooth and an abscess. Her dentist recommended an operation to remove the tooth in hospital because of the delicacy of her jaw.
Linda said: “The infection was bad and very painful. It took two courses of antibiotics to get rid of it and I didn’t know where to put myself. When I found out that the waiting list for the operation was eight to nine months long at our usual hospital, I could have cried – there was no way I could hold out that long.”
Fortunately, Linda’s dentist suggested Eccleshill NHS Treatment Centre and within a fortnight she was having the operation. She said: “The service was unbelievable. Mr Sutton, the surgeon, was very good. He gave me the injections and I didn’t feel a thing. I only needed one stitch and I felt as right as rain. I would recommend Eccleshill NHS Treatment Centre to anyone.”