A 52-year-old man has reportedly died from sepsis due to complications caused by DIY dentistry.
A source close to the individual said that he had a problem with a wisdom tooth but was unable to access an NHS dental appointment to remove it. As a result, he extracted the tooth himself using ‘rusty pliers’.
Responding to the news, special care dentistry consultant Natalie Bradley, said: ‘Entirely preventable and so sad that someone was desperate to resort to this and lost his life.
‘Something you’d think was going on in Victorian Britain… Not in the 21st century.’
In addition, the British Dental Association (BDA) responded: ‘This death, and others like it, are the result of decade of indifference to a service millions depend on.
‘The government must own this. Every day we’re seeing the impact of choices made in Downing Street, the Department of Health and the Treasury.’
‘Victorian era’
This comes as a recent poll suggested that more than eight in 10 dentists have treated DIY dentistry cases since lockdown.
The poll asked 500 dentists if they have ever treated a patient that has performed any form of DIY dentistry since lockdown. The results showed that 82% had.
As a result, the BDA has warned that DIY dentistry is ‘rampant’ across the UK.
Eddie Crouch, BDA chair, commented: ‘Day in, day out dentists in our hospitals are seeing scenes straight out of a Dickens novel.
‘Ministers need to take some responsibility. A wealthy 21st-century nation is slipping back to the Victorian era on their watch.’
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