A teenager who struggled to see an NHS dentist when he was in agony fears he has been scarred for life.
Jay Connaughton, 17, from Plymouth, Devon, developed an abscess in his mouth and attempted to locate a dentist but struggled so left it for two months, but when his face began to swell and he was unable to eat or sleep, he spent hours on the phone trying to book an appointment.
When he couldn’t get through he finished up at Derriford Hospital for several days where they extracted a tooth. It comes as a new report says NHS dentistry is at its most stretched point in its history.
Jay’s mother, Lisa Emmens, said that if her son had a routine dentist operation, it would have been picked up initially and his tooth could have been saved in the first place and that this was just the tip of the iceberg.
She said that children are coming up who are going to need dentist appointments that just aren’t going to get them, and they will be losing teeth unnecessarily, and that her son couldn’t be put to sleep because his mouth was so swollen, and that they couldn’t put the tubes down the back of his throat, so he had to be heavily sedated but couldn’t be put completely under for the operation.
She added that he was in hospital for three to four days because it was constantly draining. He was on a strong course of antibiotics in there and then came home and was on another five-day course of antibiotics when he came home as well. She said her son’s injury was healing well, but that he would need follow-up treatment and has been left with a lifelong scar.
Jay added that he started having problems and that he left it for a while and that he was trying to get hold of a dentist, but couldn’t get through so left it for two months.
He said that he kept contacting emergency dentists and that he was probably on hold for about three hours a day. When he finally got through, they took out the tooth instead of the abscess and his face started swelling up, he couldn’t eat and couldn’t sleep.
It comes as new research reveals most dental practices are not taking on new NHS patients, forcing most people to go private or, as in Jay’s case, seek out emergency help when something goes awry.
Now because it’s so hard to get an NHS dentist loads of people will have mouth disorders or some form of mouth cancer which will go undetected and likely kill them because they can’t get to see a dentist.
All that dentists are concerned with now is money and dentistry work that is ridiculously pricey.
However, if this lad was in agony and couldn’t find a dentist, why didn’t he go to the hospital immediately? Because some hospitals won’t treat you if you have teeth issues and will turn you away, of which I have no idea why, is the mouth no longer part of the human body?
It does, however, sound like this lad wasn’t registered with a dentist in the first place and he waited until it was an emergency before attempting to find one, although I must confess most people loathe going to the dentist, myself included.
The thing is why should people have to pay for their treatment if they’re entitled to an NHS dentist? That’s why we pay into the system. The problem is that dentists have become too greedy and won’t do NHS work for a fixed amount. They don’t care that people are suffering and have rotten teeth, they only care about the money. People are just greedy and can’t see beyond their noses.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 