Nilesh Parmar, a dentist at Parmar Dental in Leigh-on-Sea, explained that surgeries have a quota of NHS work to complete each year.
He told BBC News that it has created a “crazy situation”. He has enough staff to tackle the waiting list, but funding has not been granted.
Nilesh was given a set NHS budget of work for his three dentists to complete.
The demand for dental care in Essex is “ridiculous”, Nilesh explained. But once the money runs out, his staff have to stop working.
"It just seems like a crazy situation where you've got a clinic which is ready to do more treatment and do more NHS work, but we're going to have to stop because we just don't have the funding to do it," Nilesh added.
"It's almost like saying to a hospital, ‘you can see 300 patients this year, and once you see 300 patients, you have to send them away’ - and that's exactly what we're having to do."
Nilesh estimates that by the summer of 2024, he will have completed his NHS quota.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) commented that dental contract reforms are ongoing.
Part of the government’s recovery plan included a new Patient Premium scheme. Which included an announcement that NHS dentists will be given a ‘new patient’ payment of between £15-£50 (depending on treatment need) to treat around a million new patients who have not seen an NHS dentist in two years or more.
The DHSC spokesperson added that the premium has resulted in more practices taking on new adults and children.
"As a result, more dental practices are already accepting new adult and child patients across England," they added.
"We are also continuing our work on reforming the dental contract so that dentists are paid properly for more complex work."