Some NHS dental patients have been asked to pay for private care “if they want any treatment”, a watchdog has warned.
Waits of up to two years for an NHS appointment are also being reported in some parts of the country.
Healthwatch England said hundreds of people contacted it between October and December last year complaining about dentistry issues.
A briefing document from the watchdog said that “a lack of NHS dentist appointments” remains the most common issue – with people asked to wait for up to two years.
The paper also said that patients have “indicated that dentists have prioritised private care or asked them to pay private fees if they wanted any treatment”.
One patient was offered a procedure for £1,700 which was £60 on the NHS, according to the document.
Claire Westwood, from Grange-over-Sands in Cumbria, was prescribed antibiotics for a tooth infection after seeing her local dentist.
She went back afterwards as she was still in pain and was told by the surgery she would need root canal treatment.
She told Radio 4’s Today programme: “The cost of this would be over £900 and I wouldn’t be able to get it as a NHS patient due to the fact they’re no longer accepting them and there would be a waiting list.”
“It’s very worrying and frustrating that I don’t know where to go forward form here. It will only get worse again if it’s not treated soon and the only option to have it treated soon is to pay privately.”
The watchdog’s chairman, Sir Robert Francis QC, said the issues highlighted by Healthwatch England show how the coronavirus pandemic has “exacerbated the human impact of years of structural issues in NHS dentistry and is now pushing it to crisis point”.
Dentists have been ordered to reach 45% of their pre-pandemic levels – but they have raised concerns about seeing further patients given the recent spike in Covid infections.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said it was working closely with the NHS to increase access to dentistry services “as fast as possible, while protecting staff and patients from Covid-19 infection”.
An NHS spokesperson said: “It’s right that the NHS has set targets that help patients see their dentist, with many practices already going well beyond the target set.
“Despite the pandemic, millions of people received dental treatment last year and the NHS has set up over 650 urgent dental hubs so patients can get access to a dentist if they need it.”