A woman from Nottingham has resorted to extracting her own teeth following a five month wait for an appointment with her dentist.
Jacqueline Shepherd developed severe tooth ache in February 2022. Jacqueline told Nottinghamshire Live the pain was “horrendous” and completely overwhelming. "I have a high pain threshold but it was too painful," she said. "I kept twisting it - it took me two days to finally get it out."
She is not alone, as a recent poll discovered that almost a quarter of all Brits tried to get a local NHS dentist appointment and failed. Of these, one in five (21 per cent) have turned to DIY dentistry.
The pain seems to have begun after Jacqueline started a new medication which caused a vitamin D deficiency and loosened her teeth. Unable to afford private treatment, she spent hours every day on the phone attempting to get an appointment. Jacqueline even called 111 on three occasions, but she was only given more numbers for dentists. All of which had no available appointments.
“If it wasn’t for one nice person I’d still be waiting now,” said Jacqueline. “I was crying and in so much pain. I had six teeth taken out once I finally got an appointment in July. It’s absolutely disgusting. It was the worst experience of my life, toothache is one of the worst things you can have. I couldn’t eat anything because the pain was on both sides of my mouth.
“The pain was that bad that even talking was causing a problem. I feel sorry for anyone who might be in the same position. It was five months of sheer hell."
A statement from NHS midlands to Nottinghamshire Live said, “We are really sorry to hear of this very unfortunate case and are taking initiatives to increase the number of dental care sessions for people across the Midlands. The latest data show dental services are recovering post pandemic, with over 26 million patient treatments delivered in England last year – up 120 per cent from the year before, along with 1.7 million more children getting seen by an NHS dentist.
“To further support the ongoing restoration of NHS dentistry, we recently announced the first significant changes to dentistry since 2006, helping practices to improve access for the patients that need dental care the most.”