'We're not talking about a few dental hotspots. This national crisis is affecting millions'

A NATIONAL dentistry crisis has seen people resort to pulling teeth out with pliers while numbed by booze, experts warn.

- Steph Spyro

Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association, said millions of people struggled to access NHS surgeries.

He said: "Talk of 'dental deserts' might give the impression there are some 'dental oases' out there. There aren't."

He added that it was not a question of isolated problem hotspots in parts of the country but a "national crisis affecting millions", where startling statistics fail to capture the pain in which patients are left.

Mr Crouch said he had personally met "people who've reached for pliers and a bottle of spirits when they couldn't access care...this is an outrage".

Four out of five dentists in England are not taking on new NHS patients, research showed last December.

The new Health Secretary Wes Streeting has described parts of the East of England as "the Sahara of dental deserts".

Supply