Methil mum Cheryl Simpson’s four-year-old daughter Maisie has only been to the dentist once in her life.
Maisie is one of the 41,453 people in Fife not registered with an NHS dentist, according to Public Health Scotland figures. A total of 9,265 of them are children.
Both Cheryl, 35, and her daughters, Maddie, 7, and Maisie have been left unregistered after the recent closure of Banbeath Dental Practice in Leven.
“I was registered at Banbeath for six years and we had appointments in place,” she tells me.
“But they would end up being cancelled because there was a shortage of dentists.
“So before the practice closed I had started looking for an NHS dentist elsewhere in Fife.
“But I couldn’t get one.
“This is why we are now on a waiting list for a dentist in Edinburgh.”
“My youngest Maisie has only been to a dentist once in her life.
“While Maddie has only been two or three times.
“Neither of them have seen a dentist since before Covid.”
Cheryl also in ‘constant pain’
While her main concern is her children, Cheryl is also living with a hole in her wisdom tooth.
She has been in constant pain for the past year.
“I have ended up phoning the Fife dental helpline frequently because it has been really sore.
“I had one emergency appointment at a dentist in Fife where I was just given antibiotics.
“While another emergency appointment was at a dental practice in Dundee.
“But when I got there I was told they couldn’t do anything because it needs to be a surgical procedure.
“So it was a wasted journey. It’s just been a nightmare.”
After months of being on a waiting list for treatment, she was recently offered an appointment to get the tooth removed at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
Although she also still needs three other fillings.
“I wouldn’t be left to walk around with a broken arm, there would be a duty of care there.
“Yet when it comes to my teeth and my kids’ teeth, there doesn’t seem to be any duty of care at all.”
No Fife dentists registering new patients
Information provided by the Fife Dental Advice Line reveals there are no dentists in the Kingdom registering new patients just now.
This is despite the Scottish Government stating that over 84 per cent of Fife’s population is registered for NHS dental services in the Kingdom – with over 63 per cent of those registered having seen a dentist in the last two years.
There are four Fife dental practices currently operating a waiting list – with times ranging from anywhere between two months to a year, perhaps longer.
While another four dentists are offering registration to children and young people under the age of 16 only.
More Fife families left counting the cost
I spoke to another mum in the Kingdom, who asked to remain anonymous. She lives in Leslie and has been left without a dentist after Nanodent Dental Practice in Glenrothes closed earlier this year.
The 42-year-old went on to develop an infection in her gum, caused by a filling.
The mum-of-one has tried to register with an NHS dentist in Fife but there were no spaces.
“I called the Fife dental helpline and they sent me to two different dentists.
“But as I wasn’t a patient they wouldn’t do any work on my mouth – they just kept giving me antibiotics.
“This went on for two months and I was in agony.”
So her sister, who works at a dental practice in Airdrie, managed to get her registered there.
She now plans to stay at that practice – despite it being a 50-minute drive away.
“They took x-rays, removed the filling and drained the infection before doing root canal treatment. The treatment I have had there has been amazing.”
“You can go through to the west and the NHS dentists there will take you on in a heartbeat.
“But you can’t get an NHS dentist in Fife.
“The dentists here are greedy and that’s why they are all going private.”
How have Fife dentists responded ?
Robert Lockhart runs Saltire Dental Practice in Glenrothes with his wife Kerry.
Last November they informed their patients the practice would no longer be undertaking NHS work.
This was due to one of its two NHS dentists leaving and the practice being unable to recruit another.
Robert says people might be under the misapprehension that dentists are going private to earn more money.
But he insists that isn’t the case.
“We turned over a £30,000 loss as a business last year.
“We were muddling through at a massive loss just trying to look after patients.
“NHS dentists have to try and see around 50-60 people a day just to try and break even with minimum wage.
“They are then putting in a few extra hours unpaid after work to just write up the clinical notes for each patient.”
The money dentists receive from the NHS for the work they do isn’t enough to cover their costs, Robert tells me.
His wife Kerry adds: “If we had kept running at a loss we would have had to close like some other dental practices.
“So we decided to keep open by going private. This way we can see people who want to pay £20 a month to invest in their teeth.
“Our private patients will be seen regularly, have oral cancer screenings done along with scale and polishes.
“Our dentists will also have more time to see them, providing a better level of care.”
Other Fife dentists struggling to recruit
David Chong Kwan has been a dentist for 41 years.
He runs three practices in Dunfermline and Rosyth with 10 surgeries and currently six dentists.
He says: “I have been attempting to recruit dentists willing to see NHS patients since 2019.
“It’s even a struggle to find dentists to see our patients privately.
“Scotland’s NHS dental crisis is nationwide.”
He accused the Scottish Government of being “misleading” when it quotes statistics referring to the number of patients registered in Fife.
“Many of these patients haven’t been seen for years. And when patients do try to book an appointment they find that they can’t.”
Fife dentist crisis is ‘an appalling situation’
Richard Baker MP, who represents Glenrothes and Mid Fife, has been contacted by constituents unable to register with a local NHS dentist.
“The figures for Fife lay bare just how shocking the situation is on the ground here.”
He is referring to 41,453 people in Fife not registered with an NHS dentist.
“It’s an appalling situation for people who simply can’t afford private treatment – or the cost of travelling miles out to find an NHS dentist.
“People deserve better than this.”
NHS Fife and Scottish Government ‘taking action’ to improve access
An NHS Fife spokesman acknowledges a national shortage of qualified dentists means Fife patients are struggling to register for NHS dental care at local practice.
The health board is in discussion with the Scottish Government to resolve the issue.
NHS Fife’s public dental service helps to ensure that all of those not registered can be seen for any dental emergencies.
A Scottish Government spokesperson adds: “We will continue to take action to improve access.”
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