Distressed dental patients in Sheffield left in pain and with long waits for treatment, says watchdog

Some dentists are only offering a fifth of the treatments they did pre-pandemic and watchdog Healthwatch Sheffield says enquiries have increased significantly with many people left “distressed and confused.”

Its report says: “People who needed fillings or root canal work told us they had been left in pain for a significant amount of time, and the pain medication prescribed over the phone isn’t always enough to help them.

“One person told us her dentures had broken and she could not eat properly, but after phoning several dentists without being triaged and being able to explain her issue, she didn’t know what else to do.

“Others feel it’s unclear what is considered urgent – a person with gum disease was unable to get this checked for over a year as he was told it wasn’t urgent.

“Now that many dentists are beginning to offer more treatment, we are still hearing from people who aren’t able to access care.

“The impact on people has been significant, and we know that many people have been left distressed and confused by the situation.”

Many of the people who contacted Healthwatch struggled to find information online or there were out of date answerphone messages at practices. Healthwatch itself struggled to get clear information to help people with their enquiries.

Debbie Stovin, dental commissioning manager of NHS England Yorkshire, said practices must follow stringent infection prevention and control measures.

“This is impacting on the level of service that can be delivered and is as low as one-fifth of the activity that was being delivered prior to Covid at some practices.

“Strict infection control procedures between appointments reduces the number of patients that are able to be treated on a daily basis.

“The other impact is on those patients wishing to resume their routine dental check-ups and treatments. Practices have been asked to prioritise those patients with an urgent or emergency dental need.”

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