Comment: Drilling into the dental crisis

This week, I secured a Westminster Hall debate on NHS dental provision in Sussex, and the response from constituents has been both heartening and deeply troubling in equal measure.

To illustrate the scale of the problem, one of my team members in Westminster recently moved to London and needed to find a new dentist. Within two miles of his home, he found ten surgeries accepting new NHS patients. When I searched using the postcode of my own constituency office in Chichester, I found zero: not within the city, not within five miles, not within twelve. That comparison tells you everything about the postcode lottery we face in West Sussex.

Jess Brown-Fuller has secured a Westminster Hall debate on NHS dental provision in Sussex.

The stories constituents have shared with me bring that lottery to life. One woman who moved here four years ago still travels to Three Bridges for her care. A gentleman who moved to Bracklesham in 2011 has never once been registered with an NHS dentist. And one man drives a 140-mile round trip for a routine appointment. A local mother told me her son developed an abscess over Christmas three years ago; they joined waiting lists at three separate surgeries and still have not secured an appointment.

Nationally, fourteen million people were unable to access NHS dental care in early 2025, and tooth decay is now the leading cause of hospital admission among children aged six to ten. We are going backwards, and the British Dental Association has warned that NHS dentistry is facing an existential threat. In response, the Liberal Democrats have put forward proposals for a £750m dental rescue plan, which would end “dental deserts”, areas where no NHS dentists are available for new patients. 

In Tuesday's debate, I pressed the importance of reforming the outdated contracts which were introduced in 2006 and have been widely criticised since. I also outlined the concern the lack of meaningful provision is causing in our area. If this government doesn’t get to grips with this crisis soon, they will run out of time in this Parliament, and the concept of NHS dentistry will be lost entirely. If you have an experience involving dentistry provision you would like me to hear, please do get in touch at jess.brownfuller.mp@parliament.uk. Every account strengthens the case for change, and change is long overdue.