The profession is warning of increased cases of dental sepsis amidst ongoing access problems in UK dentistry.
As part of its new ‘Dentists for All’ campaign, The Mirror reports that one clinician in the north of England reportedly described their local hospital as ‘like a battlefield’ given the volume of dental sepsis cases.
It reported on a dentist working in secondary care in the north of England, speaking anonymously who said: ‘We’re now seeing patients dying from toothache. We’ve never witnessed this before, and there have been multiple cases. One patient came into A&E, was intubated immediately, but died of dental infection without ever regaining consciousness.
‘Ultimately these are the result of access problems in primary care. It’s clear to me these infections will claim more lives. The powers that be should never have allowed dentistry to get into this state.’
Growing problems
Now, the British Dental Association (BDA) says it has been overwhelmed by feedback from members on the growing problems among patients presenting late.
The association says it has observed how problems in dental primary care put pressure on other parts of the health service. A recent Freedom of Information request from the Labour Party, for example, showed 52,000 patients visited A&E with dental abscesses last year.
Data released last year also showed 9,860 cases of mouth cancer in the UK in 2020/21 – up 12% on the previous comparable year.
The disease killed more than 3,000 people in 2021, which was up 46% from 2,075 a decade ago. Early detection results in a 90% survival rate but drops to a 50% survival rate after a delayed diagnosis.
BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘This crisis is hitting every corner of our health service.
‘It’s the patients piling into emergency rooms and GP surgeries. It’s the oral cancers caught too late, and the simple problems that end up as life threatening infections.
‘Official indifference to NHS dentistry has a body count. What more will it take for this government to wake up?’
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