NHS dental complaints have soared by two thirds, with access, treatment, and fees ranking highly among main concerns, according to England’s Health Ombudsman.
The number of complaints to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) about dentists increased by 66% from 1,193 in 2017/18 to 1,982 in 2022/23.
Meanwhile, the proportion of complaints being upheld or partly upheld after investigation by the Ombudsman has also gone up from 42% to 78% during the same period.
This is significantly more than the average uphold rate of 60% for all other NHS services.
The Ombudsman receives about 100 calls a week about issues relating to dental practices, such as people being removed from practices’ lists of NHS patients, lack of NHS dentists, and poor treatment.
The PHSO said that cases upheld by the Ombudsman in 2023 included a pregnant woman from Southampton who was forced to pay £1,045 for a private root canal treatment after her dentist failed to tell her that she was exempt from NHS fees so her treatment should have been free.
After treatment, the dentist then failed to fit a crown within the 30 days as recommended by the private specialist, leaving the woman in pain and distress.
In another case, a woman was burned inside her lower lip during a root canal treatment at a practice in Birmingham. She was left in ‘excruciating’ pain for 13 days, could not sleep and could only eat soft or liquid foods such as eggs and soup.
And in a third case, a practice in Stockport said claimed price for a five-tooth bridge was £330 total, rather than £330 per tooth. If the patient had understood the real cost, he would not have agreed to his front tooth being removed in preparation for the bridge and would have considered other treatment options. He was left with no front tooth and had to have further work carried out by another practice to fix the gap.
Ombudsman Rob Behrens said: “Poor dental care leaves patients frustrated, in pain and out of pocket.
“They, and dental professionals, deserve a better system that leads to quality care.
“Many of us will have read recent headlines of people removing their own teeth and seen images of people queuing outside practices for an NHS dentist. This shows in access problems, such as appointment availability and lack of treatment being a common issue in complaints brought to us.”
Behrens added: “Like many other areas of the NHS, dentistry is suffering from low morale, underfunding, and a recruitment and retention problem.
“More needs to be done to tackle the serious issues in dentistry. Patients must be able to access quality care and be clear about what is and is not available to them on the NHS.
“Dental professionals need to feel supported and that leaders in the NHS and Government understand the problems they are facing and are working towards a meaningful solution.”
William Pett, head of policy, public affairs and research at Healthwatch England, said: “NHS dentistry is the second most common problem the public tells Healthwatch about.
“Over the past three years, our local services have produced over 400 research reports exposing experiences of people suffering in pain, performing DIY dentistry and struggling to pay treatment costs.
“Improving information, including online, will be essential so that people have a clear picture of where and how they can access services, and the charges they will need to pay.
“We have therefore welcomed the Health and Social Care Select Committee’s call for a national information campaign to tackle misconceptions about ‘registration’ with dentists.
“Ultimately, however, only fundamental and fully resourced dental contract reform can tackle the deep-seated problems we see across England. We eagerly await the government’s long awaited dental recovery plan. Patients will continue to pay the price until action is taken.”