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Britain's 'dental desert' county without any NHS dentists to fix rotting teeth
NHS dentist – and residents are starting to complain about their rotting teeth.Locals in Somerset have been unable to see an NHS due to 2,000 of the dental specialists quitting in the last year.And it has seen the area nicknamed the “Dental Desert”.According to The Times, Healthwatch Somerset has said a third of the calls made between December 2021 and February 2022 were related to people being unable to get any NHS dentistry access, including children, pregnant women and people unable to pay to go private.Gill Keniston-Goble, one of Healthwatch Somerset's managers, said: “People are telling us they have called many dentists but cannot find one taking new patients.“We are also hearing from the public that NHS England is advising there are no dentists taking new NHS patients in Somerset."Somerset has a population of around 560,000.One patient, called Lydia Davis, said that she has not been able to find a dentist within a two-hour drive radius of her home.Only 27, she has the bleeding-gum disease called gingivitis – she also needs two new fillings and wisdom teeth removal.She said: “Sitting in the dentist's office, listening to the list of treatments, the cost of £1,100 brought me to tears," she said."Whenever I eat and feel a twinge, my heart drops - I panic that something terrible is happening again.
