The BBC have featured the story centred upon Blackpool South MP Scott Benton’s complaint that it is ‘sadly impossible’ for new patients in Blackpool to find an NHS dentist.

MP Benton (pictured below) had previously told the House of Commons that his constituents were ‘pleading with me to get them the treatment they so badly need’, adding ‘It is estimated that 40% of my constituents – some 35,000 people – cannot currently access NHS treatment.’

He illustrated this problem by sharing this particular local case: ‘Only last week, a mother attended my surgery who had to physically remove the teeth of her six-year-old daughter with pliers because she was in so much pain and could not access the treatment her family needed.’

In Parliament MP Benton asked, ‘As the NHS dentistry recovery plan is long overdue, would it be in order for the House to receive a ministerial statement on when we may finally see some progress on this issue?’

MP Benton further told the BBC that the child ‘had several rotten teeth’ and ‘was in pain and they didn’t have a local dentist’. He added that the mother ‘wasn’t aware of the emergency dental care provided locally at Whitegate Drive and took several of her child’s teeth out as a result.’ He said that it was ‘an absolutely harrowing and heartbreaking case. Our lack of local NHS dentists is unsustainable and unacceptable and the government needs to publish its dental recovery plan urgently and match this with funding to start to repair the situation.’

In 2022, a BBC investigation found nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK were not accepting new adult patients for treatment under the health service. That investigation was unable to find any practices in Blackpool taking on new NHS patients, with one woman in the town saying she had resorted to making her own dentures.