About seven years ago, the NHS dental practice in Glastonbury was closed. With the recent success of restoring a pharmacy to our High Street, we now need to restore our NHS dentist - this issue is at least as important as an accessible pharmacy, if not more so.

It is a well known fact that Glastonbury is an area with high levels of poverty and low levels of car ownership. The impact of poverty not only means that people are taking expensive dental work into their own hands, or are having to borrow money in order to get vital dental treatment, but it also means that we are likely to have less nutritious diets and therefore weaker teeth. Compounding the issue with a lack of car ownership and poor public transport links, we become an isolated community struggling with basic health care provision. Some people are travelling to Castle Cary to access NHS dental work, but this is only accessible for those with use of a car. The need for NHS dentistry is increased further for children or for pregnant women, who should all be getting free dental care by default.

The fact is that failure to provide NHS dentistry is not only causing people enormous stress and unnecessary prolonged pain, as well as increased financial hardship, it is NOT COST EFFECTIVE for the NHS. Recently, a local person was hospitalised with sepsis due to an inability to access affordable dental work.  Mouth cancer rates have been increasing in the UK, and the Oral Health Foundation reports that cases have more than tripled in the last 20 years. In England, mouth cancer cases have increased by 34% in the last decade, and the number of deaths from mouth cancer has also increased by 46%. Additionally, suspected oral cancer referrals to head and neck surgeons are generally higher from areas of socioeconomic deprivation where lifestyle risk factors like smoking and alcohol consumption are traditionally more prevalent and where current NHS dental provision is poorest (“dental deserts”). Referrals from dentists tend to result in earlier stage disease at diagnosis. The financial costs to the NHS from these expensive treatments surely make the failure to provide NHS dentistry a false economy?  A potential short term saving which is costing hundreds of thousands of pounds in the long term.

A quick google on the NHS "find my nearest dentist" reveals out of date information. Vine surgery in Street have not had any NHS dentists working there for at least 18 months now and none of the mydentist practices in Somerset are currently taking on new patients. In an area where we have a large house building programme and a growing population, as well as a growing elderly population, this is neither acceptable nor sustainable.

The situation is absolutely desperate and we, the undersigned, call upon the Integrated Care Board to URGENTLY reinstate an NHS dental practice in Glastonbury and we call upon the Right Honourable Sarah Dyke MP to support this campaign. 

Campaign by Glastonbury Independent Alliance.