Toothless in England

13/10/2026

🦷 Great to meet Vikki Slade 4 Mid Dorset & North Poole today to discuss the NHS dental crisis in Dorset and how we can work together to improve access for patients.

We covered the findings from Toothless in England’s recent FOI on dental clawback and underspend, the importance of protecting ringfenced funding so it reaches the frontline, and the need for both local ICB action and national contract reform.

While we don’t agree on every solution, we share a clear commitment to fixing this for her constituents and for patients across England. We’ve agreed to stay in touch and support each other’s efforts.

Thank you for your time and for the constructive conversation — these issues are fixable, and collaboration between MPs, local NHS leaders, and patient campaigns is how we make progress.

06/09/2026

“Parents in dental deserts can’t get a check-up even when they try. You cannot lecture people about sugar while the service that should catch decay early has collapsed. Individual responsibility matters, yes. But so does a functioning NHS.” — Mark Jones speaking to Matthew Wright on LBC earlier this morning.

03/09/2026

🦷 Toothless in England responds to Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board

We welcome any genuine attempt to listen to patients. But Norfolk and Suffolk already know what is not working.

In Suffolk, only 37.9% of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in 24 months. Access is worst in Mid Suffolk (27.9%), Babergh (30.1%) and West Suffolk (35.1%). More than 108,000 residents cannot reach an NHS dentist within 30 minutes by public transport. Leiston, Saxmundham, Brandon, Eye and Bury St Edmunds have waited years for replacement provision.

In Norfolk the picture is just as stark. Only about 34% of adults in the former Norfolk and Waveney area were seen by an NHS dentist in 24 months. King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, North Norfolk, Breckland, Thetford, Great Yarmouth, Norwich and rural South Norfolk have all seen patients locked out. Only about one in ten practices was showing as accepting new adult NHS patients. Norfolk and Waveney has among the lowest numbers of NHS dentists per 100,000 people in the country. One in five Norfolk five-year-olds still has tooth decay.

The former ICBs clawed back tens of millions in unused dental funding while those gaps stayed open. A £700,000 allocation for mobile dental provision in Suffolk was never used for a general mobile service. Surveys and £20 vouchers will not fill empty chairs — and they will not reach villages and coastal towns with no practice left.

If this engagement is real, publish:
• How much dental underspend and clawback the new ICB inherited from both former boards, and exactly how it is being spent
• How many extra NHS appointments have actually been delivered in Leiston, Saxmundham, Mid Suffolk, King’s Lynn, North Norfolk, Great Yarmouth, Thetford and other dental deserts
• A funded plan for mobile dental clinics to take care to coastal and rural communities that cannot reach a high-street practice
• A date by which every community in Norfolk and Suffolk will have a realistic route to an NHS dentist

Toothless in England is a non-party political, volunteer-led campaign. You have invited community groups to get in touch. We accept that invitation. We are ready to meet the ICB, join conversations in towns and villages across both counties, and set out practical steps that would turn this survey into actual care.

Patients do not need another consultation to “shape the future.” They need an NHS dentist now — in the town where they live, or in a clinic that comes to them.

An NHS dentist for everyone!

Toothless in England

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1512141484277449&id=100064448361819

Help shape the future of NHS dental services in Norfolk and Suffolk.

We're looking for views from people across our communities to help us understand what's working well and where improvements could be made.

Complete our survey to have your say.

Part of a community group? Please help us to spread the word! And if you would like us to visit your group or community to have a conversation about dental care, please let us know.

Learn more and take the survey: https://www.letstalkhealthandcare.co.uk/dental

28/08/2026

🦷 Last night on BBC Look East.

Toothless in England was name-checked for the second time this week on the evening news as the East of England keeps living with one of the sharpest collapses in NHS dentistry in the country.

Thank you to Look East for keeping this crisis on screen. Without regional journalism, too many people would still be suffering in silence — DIY dentistry, children in A&E for extractions, infections left untreated.

The Nuffield Trust figures this week said what patients have been telling us for five years: one in ten practices have walked away from NHS care. The East is among the worst hit.

Until there’s an NHS dentist for everyone, we keep going.

27/08/2026

🦷 TOOTHLESS IN ENGLAND PRESS RELEASE · NHS DENTISTRY HAS NOT COME BACK — 40% OF ADULTS SEEN IN TWO YEARS, AND NO ENGLISH REGION RESTORED TO 2019

Official NHS Dental Statistics for England 2025/26, published today, show 37.6 million courses of treatment — still 1.2 million short of 2019/20. 18.8 million adults saw an NHS dentist in the 24 months to 31 March 2026. That is 40% of adults, against 21.8 million and 49.6% at the end of 2019. Child access in 12 months is 60%. Adult courses of treatment remain 8.5% below 2019/20. The people still missing from the service are adults.

No English region has restored adult access to the 2019 rate. The South West is at 30.4%, with every county in that region below the England figure. London and the South East are at 36.4%. The East of England is at 39.0%, pulled down by Cambridgeshire at 29.2% and Norfolk at 31.5%. The least-worst region, Yorkshire and the Humber, is at 45.4%. That is still short of 49.6%.

Mark Jones, founder of Toothless in England, said: “This government did not invent the dental crisis. It has chosen to manage it. So did the governments before it. Look at the map. Not one English region has got adult NHS dentistry back to where it stood at the end of 2019. The South West is at 30%. The East of England looks almost average until you get to Cambridgeshire at 29% and Norfolk at 31%. London and the South East are at 36%. England as a whole is stuck at 40% against 49.6%. That is not a recovery. That is successive governments tinkering while the lists stayed closed.

“They all promised contract reform, more dentists, urgent care, a service that works. What arrived on the ground was the same failed contract, closed lists, and another official release dressed up as progress. A 6% rise in courses of treatment does not reopen the door for the millions of adults still locked out, and it does nothing for the rural and coastal communities this service has already abandoned.

“This government has a choice, as the last ones had a choice. Fund a new contract that pays dentists to treat the patients in front of them, cover the unfunded half of the population, and put mobile dental clinics into the forgotten rural and coastal communities where the high street practice has already gone — or admit that universal NHS dentistry has been abandoned. Warm words and consultations that never appear are not a plan.”

ENDS

24/08/2026

🦷 It’s been a busy day of interviews, and it’s not over yet.

📻 BBC Kent
📻 BBC Hereford & Worcester
📻 BBC Northamptonshire
📻 Greatest Hits Radio Gloucester
📻 LBC (Tonight at 9.40pm w/ Henry Riley)

Thanks for keeping us in mind and allowing the voices of patients to be heard.

24/08/2026

🦷 If you've only recently become aware of our campaign demanding an NHS dentist for everyone, we would be grateful if you would consider following or liking our page.

We're ordinary people and volunteers working to encourage the government to stop delaying action, end the country’s biggest health injustice, and fix the NHS dental crisis once and for all.

Thank you.

24/08/2026

🦷 Media Statement from Toothless in England - 24 August 2026

𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐈𝐍 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐏𝐎𝐍𝐃𝐒 - 𝐍𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐍𝐇𝐒 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠

Today’s Nuffield Trust analysis shows around 600 practices – one in ten that once provided general NHS care – have withdrawn from NHS dentistry since 2017. The proportion offering NHS care has fallen from roughly 65% to 56%. The decline is almost universal, with the sharpest losses in the South West and East of England. Access is now a postcode and ability-to-pay lottery.

This is the result of a contract that has never made NHS work sustainable, chronic underfunding, and the quiet conversion of dentistry into a two-tier service.

Children are paying the highest price. Tooth decay remains the leading cause of hospital admissions for young children. Untreated disease causes pain, missed school, impaired development and lasting damage to confidence. Adults face chronic infection, emergency admissions, undiagnosed mouth cancer, and clear links between poor oral health and diabetes, cardiovascular disease and mental health. Half of adults have not sought NHS dental care in two years; only 38% of those who tried for a new appointment succeeded.

Mark Jones, founder of Toothless in England, said:

“This report confirms what patients have been telling us for five years: NHS dentistry is being allowed to wither away. One in ten practices gone, entire communities left without care, children in pain, adults living with infection and the real risk of undiagnosed mouth cancer. The government now faces a clear choice. Deliver a properly funded, reformed contract that brings practices back and makes prevention a core NHS function – or accept that it has abandoned the principle of universal care. Every further month of delay is another month of preventable harm.”

Toothless in England restates its Six-Point Charter – the minimum required to reverse the decline and protect the health of the population:

1. An NHS dentist for everyone – guaranteed access through high-street practices and mobile dental clinics specifically to reach underserved coastal and rural communities.
2. Reforms to the NHS dental contract so NHS work is financially viable, with payment based on local need rather than activity targets.
3. Revenue to cover the remaining 50+% of the population currently unfunded.
4. All dental treatments free of charge.
5. No more privatisation by stealth – people before shareholder dividend; an end to the two-tier system.
6. Hygienists, dental nurses, routine check-ups and preventative treatments made core NHS functions.

These measures will cut preventable hospital admissions, support children’s development, improve management of long-term conditions, and lower downstream costs to the NHS. Anything less leaves the government responsible for continued and foreseeable harm.

The evidence is public. There is no justification for further delay. The government must deliver a settlement that restores universal access – or accept that it has abandoned comprehensive NHS care based on need.

ENDS

22/08/2026

🦷 OTD 2024: The Dental "Recovery" Mirage vs. Real Change

Two years ago today, we took part in the National Audit Office investigation into the NHS Dental Recovery Plan.

We knew the plan was a sham from day one — and the spending watchdog proved us right. The NAO exposed a £200m plan built on flawed modelling, missed targets, and funding that left dental deserts expanding while patients suffered in pain.

Minor tweaks and superficial gimmicks won't fix a broken system. What should this current government be doing instead?

— Scrap the UDA Contract: Completely abolish the broken Units of Dental Activity payment model that forces clinicians out of the NHS.

— Guarantee Universal Access: Deliver an NHS dentist for everyone, ensuring no one is left stranded by their postcode or bank balance.

— Treat Oral Health as True Healthcare: Integrate dentistry back into the heart of the NHS as a fundamental right, not a luxury.

— Invest in the Workforce: Implement genuine retention and recruitment incentives to stop the exodus of demoralised dental professionals.

Toothless in England won't stop fighting until everyone has the local NHS care they deserve.

🦷 We assisted the National Audit Office who are investigating NHS Dentistry and the roles government, NHSE and DHSC played in developing the Dental Recovery Plan, and whether there was any consultation with professional bodies and organisations.