Dentists in Bury are no longer accepting new adult NHS patients as demand for appointments rise.

Every surgery in Bury listed on the NHS ‘Find-a-dentist’ website contacted by the Bury Times confirmed they could no longer take on new adult patients through the public health service, with only some accepting under 18s.

Every practice contacted across Bury said they could only accept private patients at this time, with some saying it could be months before NHS patients could be taken on.

Of the 17 surgeries contacted, none said they would take on new adult patients.

Out of these, just four practices, including Parkhouse Dental Surgery and Brandlesholme Dentistry in Bury, confirmed they could see under 18s when contacted.

According to the NHS website, Bury Dental Practice is accepting under 18s as of June 3, 2022.

One practice, Tottington Dental Surgery, confirmed it could only see children under 16 on the NHS.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social said "improvment patient access to NHS dental care is a government prioerity." 

The news comes following a BBC investigation which found 98 per cent of practices in the North-West were not accepting new adult patients.

The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned those who cannot afford private fees are being forced to into ‘DIY dentistry’ due to a lack of NHS appointments.

Bury Council's cabinet member for adult care, health, and wellbeing, Cllr Tamoor Tariq, said: “We are facing a dental crisis unlike one anyone can remember, and the government need to step in urgently and make changes that would allow more dental practice to take on NHS patients.

“The current situation is that the most common reason for children to go into hospital is for a tooth extraction, according to recent figures it is 78 children a day.

“The Conservative government is sitting back and overseeing an exodus of dentists, 2,000 have quite the NHS, which equates to 10 per cent of all dentists.

“In 2010 they promised to introduce a new dentistry contract, in 2017 they promised to introduce a new dentistry contract, till today there is no sign of this contract?

“I will continue to work with colleagues within the GM ICS structures, to ensure the government and department of health hear the experiences of the people of Bury and elsewhere, and we still await for them to take any meaningful action.”

In responce to the findings, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “Improving patient access to NHS dental care is a government priority and the new reforms to the dental contract announced last month are an important step.

"They will allow the best performing practices to see more patients, making better use of the range of professionals working in the sector such as dental therapists, hygienists and nurses, while also rewarding dentists more fairly for providing more complex care.

“The NHS commits around £3bn to dentistry each year and has made an extra £50m to help bust the Covid backlogs.

"This builds on the unprecedented £1.7bn support we provided during the pandemic, to protect teams and patients by paying dental practices for the work they would normally have carried out if it were not for Covid regulations.”