A father who was spending sleepless nights due to a severe toothache finally got a check-up after a five-year wait.
Mark Thompson, from Wallsend, North Tyneside, said the appalling lack of dental appointments on the NHS and rising private costs prevented him from accessing the care he desperately needed.
The 43-year-old was one of more than 100 people on the waiting list for free checks and treatments organized by a charity clinic that toured Newcastle this week.
Mr Thompson was eventually seen in the back of a fitted out Dentaid truck, reflecting a typical dental office.
Dentists were forced to remove the roots of a couple of teeth that were causing him pain.
Mark Thompson (pictured in treatment), spent sleepless nights due to a severe toothache and finally got a check-up after a five-year wait.
The 43-year-old from Wallsend, North Tyneside, said the dire lack of dental appointments on the NHS and rising private costs prevented him from accessing the care he desperately needed.
The Dental Charity truck makes a stop to see patients, including Mr Thompson, outside St Silas Church in Byker, in the east end of Newcastle.
Thompson told the Mirror: “The last time I saw a dentist was five years ago and that’s because it’s so hard to get an appointment.”
‘I lost my job a few years ago. I’ve had a hard time paying for food, let alone a dentist.’
Thompson added that the care at the clinic was “brilliant”.
The Dentaid truck, with the help of 50 volunteers, stayed in Newcastle for five days, the longest it has ever stayed in one place.
According to the latest figures, in the northeast 96.8 percent of dentists close their lists to new patients.
Newcastle Foodbank, which signposted the service to eligible patients, said appointments were booked in just two hours.
Adults and children had checkups, treatments, emergency care and extractions.
The latest figures show that around 26 million adults (around 60 per cent of the population) have not had a check-up in the last two years.
This is one of the lowest ratios since modern records began in 2006.
Some Britons have been forced to pull their teeth out with pliers or travel abroad (including to Ukraine) to see a dentist due to the dire lack of access to the NHS.
Others have had no choice but to queue from 4am in front of newly opened NHS clinics in the hope of getting a check-up.
The Dentaid truck, with the help of 50 volunteers, stayed in Newcastle for five days, the longest it has stayed in one place
The back of the Dentaid truck is equipped and reflects a typical dental office.
Scenes outside a surgery in Bristol earlier this year were described as “reminiscent of Soviet-era Eastern Europe”.
A lack of appointments on the NHS has also been blamed for the growing number of missed cases of oral cancer, which is usually detected in its earliest and most treatable stages during routine dental checks.
NHS dentistry has been in crisis for years, with leaders claiming the sector is chronically underfunded, making it financially unviable to carry out treatments.
Compounding the problem is that, as more dentists leave the NHS, those who remain are becoming overwhelmed by more and more patients.