Barnstaple woman pulls out own teeth

She saves £3,000

A Barnstaple woman has resorted to pulling out her own teeth after she couldn’t find an NHS dentist anywhere in North Devon. 

Sascha Burnham used products off the internet for filling holes and tweezers to pull out her cracked teeth when they became unbearable to tolerate.

She said her former dentist in Braunton had left the practice and there were no NHS appointments anywhere after trying as far as Minehead to get one

She said dental care was now a “luxury not a necessity”. 

Ms Burnham said she was quoted £3,000 by a private practice which was way out of her budget, having had a period of time off work due to health reasons.

She is one of a number of North Devon residents who have contacted their MP Ian Roome desperate for help.

“The ceramic filler I ordered online was ok for small holes but it’s only really a temporary measure and doesn’t work if you need big fillings or have broken teeth,” she said.

“I ended up getting out the tweezers to pull out parts of the teeth that had cracked but it’s left sharp bits that cut my tongue. I file them down with emery boards.”

She said the situation was “so upsetting” as she had always looked after her teeth and regularly saw a dentist until covid happened.

In parliament last week North Devon MP Ian Roome told Keir Starmer during prime minster’s questions that he had spoken to five people who had been forced to remove their teeth with pliers or other tools and amateur surgical kits bought online because they are unable to find an NHS dentist. 

“What would the prime minister say to those people, and when will the government banish this dentistry crisis to the history books, where it belongs?” he said.

The prime minister said the government was rolling out 700,000 urgent and emergency appointments, reforming the dental contract, and recruiting more dentists and newly qualified dentists, who will practice in the NHS for a minimum period.

“It is another shameful legacy of the Conservative party that one in four adults struggles with NHS care and that tooth decay is the most common reason for hospital admissions for children aged five to nine—that happened on their watch. We are fixing this.”

Later Mr Roome, who chairs the North Devon dental steering group,  told the local democracy reporting service “The promise of 700,000 extra appointments sounds great on paper, but without urgent action to address the workforce crisis and contract, those targets are a long way off for places like North Devon. 

“Here we’ve got practices unable to recruit, dentists leaving the NHS, and increasing numbers of children and adults left without any access to dental care at all. Yes, urgent care is important, but we need to properly incentivise NHS work, or else we’ll be stuck in this cycle for years.