My dental x-ray 

I HAVE this week been racked with unimaginable suffering at the final passing of what can only be described as a crucial pillar of a once proud yet now decaying body politic.

The demise of the old crown, part of my identity for so many years, has left a huge gaping hole in my gob.

Much had been written recently about the collapse of NHS dentistry but this week I secured a same-day appointment within four hours of calling 111 in desperation.

The unmistakable throb of doom began building the evening before leading into a nightmarish night of wincing and wailing while pressing packs of peas against my aching cheek.

Pain-killers, whisky, clove oil; there was no respite.

I did not downplay the experience over the phone. And it was a huge relief when a rather chirpy call handler accepted I was in an emergency and booked me in for an urgent appointment.

My yellow-speckled wisdom tooth, not so wise now, was with a kind of brutal medieval artistry waggled and yanked out for £23.80 at Brecknock Dental, Brecknock Road.

I have not thanked people like I have thanked people today for a long time. Dentists got a terrible press during the pandemic when many simply shut up shop, leaving patients in the lurch.

They argued safety precautions introduced to stop the spread of Covid meant the figures no longer added up.

Today there are very few, if any, Camden practices accepting new NHS patients for routine work.

Just under half said they would not offer to take NHS patients even in an emergency, according to a report from Camden’s health watchdog Healthwatch last year.

Why?

The Department of Health contract they work for is underfunded and unsustainable. Costs of providing treatment are often higher than the money they can claw back.

It essentially leaves it up to the dental practice, a private business, to decide if any NHS services are provided. The former mayor of Camden Cllr Maryam Eslamdoust raised the issue in the Town Hall last September when her daughter was denied access.

And in January, the government announced £50 million for NHS dentistry to free up 350,000 more appointments nationwide. But little has changed.

This week the practice in Camden Town I was registered to told me because I had not been for six years – yes, I know it’s a long time – I was no longer eligible for an NHS booking. Even if I was prepared to pay they could not see me for four days, emergency or not.

There clearly remains an unmet need, particularly for those simply wanting regular check-ups. While further rounds of connected treatment to my initial NHS appointment – a root canal, for example – would cost in the region of £65.

Private charges for the exact same work are in the £600-£900 bracket. Stick it out with a cracked crown or pay your energy bill?

Many patients will simply ignore a problem until it becomes unbearable. That or simply leaving a job half done or resorting to DIY measures!

I’m sure the government, despite what the new health secretary Therese Coffey insists, views the current shambles as a blueprint for the wider NHS.

How long before patients are made to feel so very lucky to only pay £23.80 for a plastered leg and take-home crutches? For an MRI scan, a new hip perhaps?

This is not a paranoid fantasy, it’s part of a detailed plan laid out by Liz Truss in 2009. “User charges should be introduced for less serious ailments,” she wrote in her ‘Back to Black’ pamphlet for the 1828 think tank, of which she was chair until being appointed PM.

I had a bit of an “I knew him, Horatio” moment while looking at my tiny tooth bloodied and prostrate on the tray of picks and pliers at Brecknock Dental.

How could something so small have such a destructive impact? Forget about the King. Stand up for the NHS.