🦷 CQC’s State of Care 2025/26 confirms what patients already know: NHS dentistry has not recovered. Activity still below 2019/20 levels. Adult access ranges from 25% to 53% by ICB. Only 38% of dentists work mainly NHS. Childhood tooth decay is more than double in the most deprived areas. This is not recovery. It’s managed decline. cqc.org.uk/publications/majo… #nhsdentistry #dentalcrisis

🦷 Toothless in England 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐒𝐮𝐟𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐤 𝐈𝐂𝐁: 𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐰𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤, 𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐍𝐇𝐒 𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 Toothless in England has today called on the @NHSnsicb Norfolk and Suffolk Integrated Care Board to confront the scale of dental failure across both counties and to deliver a clear plan that turns evidence and funding into actual care for patients. The new ICB was established on 1 April 2026, merging the former Suffolk and North East Essex and Norfolk and Waveney boards. The campaign says it now inherits both the problems and the responsibility to fix them. The evidence is stark. In Suffolk, the county’s own 2025 Oral Health Profile shows that only 37.9% of adults were seen by an NHS dentist in a 24-month period. 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 dental service within 30 minutes by public transport. In Norfolk, the 2022 Oral Health review and later data showed children lagging behind the national average for being seen by a dentist, while only 34% of adults were seen in a recent 24-month period. One in five Norfolk five-year-olds still has tooth decay, and the county continues to be described as a “dental desert.” At the same time, huge sums allocated for dentistry went unspent or were clawed back. Former Suffolk and North East Essex ICB: £10.2 million clawed back in 2023/24 and £8.6 million in 2024/25. A £700,000 allocation for mobile dental provision was never used for a general mobile service. Former Norfolk and Waveney ICB: underspends reported at approximately £16.5 million (2022/23), with later figures of £18.3 million and a £7.8 million underspend in 2024/25. These are not minor accounting adjustments. They represent millions of pounds that should have been delivering NHS dental care while patients across both counties were left in pain, forced to travel long distances, or go without. The consequences are serious: children having teeth extracted in hospital under general anaesthetic, oral cancers going undetected because people cannot get routine check-ups, and adults living for years with untreated infection and pain. Patients are still living with the consequences. Recent accounts from people in Norfolk and Suffolk continue to describe years-long waits, practices closed to new NHS patients, and the reliance on charity mobile clinics for basic treatment. One Gorleston patient this year finally received care from a Dentaid mobile clinic after a six-year wait, describing it as a “godsend” in an area called the “Sahara of dental deserts.” The campaign recognises that the previous ICBs took some steps – including extra urgent appointments, services for vulnerable groups, and the start of procurement for additional capacity in a small number of underserved areas. These efforts are welcome but have not solved the core problem: the lack of ongoing, local NHS dental care for ordinary patients in the places with the worst access. There is a growing tendency to say that nothing significant can change until the government reforms the failed GDS dental contract. The contract is broken – we agree – and has twice been found unfit for purpose by Westminster health committees. But that cannot be used as a reason for local inaction. The ICB already has powers and resources it can use: targeting the lowest-access districts, deploying mobile provision, bringing mothballed facilities back into use, commissioning experienced mobile providers, and reinvesting clawed-back funds transparently into local capacity. Waiting for national reform is not a substitute for using the tools already available. facebook.com/groups/suffolkt… #nhsdentistry #dentalcrisis