Dentist: Powys patient's 100-mile round trip for appointment

A 73-year-old man has to travel 100 miles each time he goes to the dentist due to a lack of practices taking NHS patients.

Dafydd Williams has lived in Newtown, Powys, for 20 years but his dentist is in Telford, Shropshire.

Powys was one of 10 councils the BBC found last year did not have any dentists taking new adult NHS patients.

The Welsh government said it is providing an additional £2m annually to improve access to dental services.

It said the changes it has introduced to dental contracts aim to secure 112,000 appointments for new patients this year.

However, the British Dental Association (BDA) criticised that claim, accusing the Welsh government of "cooking the books" and "making misleading claims".

"I'm angry to be honest that we have to travel so many miles to see a dentist," said Mr Williams.

"We go twice a year for a check-up, but of course if we need to have any treatment and they say we have to go back in 10 days or a fortnight - that's another day gone."

According to the BDA, new NHS contracts issued by the Welsh government put an emphasis on seeing new patients, but it claims this is at a detriment to those already registered at practices.

The BDA claims that for every new NHS patient taken on, "a dozen historic patients could lose access to dentistry".

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast, Andrew Dickenson, the chief dental officer for Wales, said dentistry has had "some very unique challenges" over the past few years.

"At present services are being recovered, but that takes time and I can fully appreciate the sentiments coming from Dr Roberts and Mr Williams but what we've been trying to do is address the unmet need for the population."

Mr Dickenson said practices have been asked if they would offer appointments to patients who have not had regular dental treatment to address the problems to give more "stability" to services.

Dentist and BDA representative Tristan Roberts has worked for the NHS since graduating, but said he now feels he is being "forced out of it".

"I think it [NHS dentistry] is on a precipice at the moment and is hanging by a thread," he told Newyddion S4C.

"I think we're losing what dentistry is about these days. It's all about funding and cutting costs."

The BBC has learned of several dental practices in different parts of the country that have brought NHS dentist services to an end, turning to private healthcare only.

This week, a letter was sent to patients of the Marquess Dental surgery in Llanfairpwllgwyngyll, Anglesey, stating that it was "impossible" to continue providing the "standard of care they wish" to NHS patients so it would be only offering private dental care from the beginning of April.

Welsh Liberal Democrat leader Jane Dodds, who represents Mid and West Wales in the Senedd, said she had discovered that in November last year, there were 794 children under 18 on a waiting list for an NHS dentist in Powys alone.

She said: "There's a two-tier system here in Wales where, if you have the money, you can pay and you can afford it.

"But if you don't, then you either just have to wait until an appointment becomes available or you have nowhere to go to register locally."

In the Senedd on Tuesday, First Minister Mark Drakeford said 1,100 additional dental appointments have been made for children in Powys in the past eight months.

The Welsh government said: "Changes to the NHS dentistry contract, offered to dental practices since last April 2022, also includes a requirement to see new patients.

"This means an estimated 112,000 new NHS patient appointments will be possible in Wales this year."