A dentist from Bucks said long NHS waiting lists are a sign that the provider is in need of 'fundamental change'.

A dentist who splits their time between a private practice in High Wycombe and an NHS practice in London said their colleagues in the National Health Service were experiencing a "very stressful" work environment due to the backlog of appointments that built up over the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We weren't allowed to see anyone during the lockdown. Normally NHS dentists would see anything between 20 and 40 patients a day, but even after the lockdown lifted, we were only allowed to see four or five people a day at first.

"Now, everything is back to normal as such, but there is still this huge backlog."

They added that part of the reason they were committing more time to their Bucks-based private practice was that it offered an opportunity to "prioritise a higher quality of care".

"So many NHS dentists aren't taking new patients because of their contracts. The problem with these practices is that they're not NHS as such, they're private businesses which get a contract from the NHS and that contract is given to dentists who are self-employed and dentists who need to meet their targets.

"At points like this, after Covid, dentists are really struggling to meet those targets. They get paid the same amount whether they do one filling or ten fillings in an hour. It means sacrificing quality and creating a stressful environment for the staff."

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The High Wycombe-based dentist added that at their private practice, an effort was made to see patients who reported being in pain within 24 hours.

"If you are in pain, you cannot sit around in pain - every minute you postpone addressing it, it will get worse. 

"It's why these waiting lists are not working. It's also why people are coming to their dentists now with 10 problems instead of just one.

"Unless it is fundamentally changed, I don't know if the Health Service is going to be able to cope. It goes back to the problems of how it is funded and fewer and fewer dentists wanting to work in that state of stress."

Many dentists across High Wycombe and the wider area are not currently accepting new patients, with some practices only accepting NHS referrals or children aged under 17.

It comes after a report published by the Health and Social Care Committee in July found that people in the UK have attempted to pull out their own teeth at home after not being able to afford or access dental care.

Steve Brine, chairman of the committee said: "To hear of someone in such pain and distress that they resorted to using pliers to extract their teeth demonstrates the crisis in NHS dental services.

"Today we register in the strongest terms possible our concern for the future of NHS dental services and the patients who desperately need access to them."

Despite this, a recent GP Patient Survey published by the NHS showed that seven out of 10 patients in the UK said they had a good overall experience with their dental provider.

The NHS has also begun to instigate contract changes based on recommendations from the Health and Social Care Committee and published its Long Term Workforce Plan in June, a purported comprehensive strategy to boost recruitment and improve patient care.