The Bere Alston woman, who is in her 60s, said she and her elderly parents had relied on the NHS check ups and treatment at Tavistock Dental Practice, which ends on June 21.
‘I’m really angry,’ she said. ‘I have lost my dentist. My dad is 91 and my mum is 89 and we all go to this dentist. In one fell swoop though, we have lost our dentist.’
In a letter to patients, dentist Dr Olga Angelakis said her decision to go private would allow her to reduce her waiting times.
She wrote: ‘As a patient at the practice, you will be aware that I have been personally committed to caring for your dental needs and providing you with a high level of dental care within the NHS. This has been made possible because of your continued loyalty towards me and the trust you have placed in me as your dentist. It has however become apparent to me that some changes need to be made to the way I practise. With this in mind I will be reducing my NHS services in the future and will instead be practising dentistry on a private basis.
‘Moving away from NHS dentistry has been a very difficult decision, but it will allow me to spend more time with my patients, maintaining and improving their dental health, whilst also reducing appointment waiting times. The change to the way I practise is necessary, to allow me to continue to provide a high-quality service.’
The Bere Alston patient, who did not want to make her name public, has been coming to the Tavistock Dental Practice at Kilworthy Park ever since it was opened, with much fanfare, as an NHS dentist for the people of Tavistock in 2007.
She said that she had joined that practice with ‘huge excitement’ in 2007 but that the service had got less and less satisfactory over the years; with long waits for both check ups and treatment. Latterly, there has been only one part-time dentist offering NHS treatment.
‘Personally, I have just waited two years for a check up and when I had a problem I had to go private. I split a tooth in December and needed a crown. I had to go up there and say ‘I have this terrible problem, I’m in agony’.
‘I ended up paying to go private at the same practice. It cost me £970. How are people in the town going to afford this sort of money?’
She said she could not find any other dentist treating NHS – ‘there are no NHS dentists for miles and miles around’.
‘I’m really cross about the whole thing because it was opened as an NHS dentist for Tavistock, something that was good for Tavistock, and now it is all prviate. And a lot of people don’t understand why.’
The Tavistock Dental Practice was originally opened in a partnership with West Devon Borough Council and the then NHS Primary Care Trust for the area back in 2007.
A spokesperson for MyDentist, which runs the Tavistock Dental Centre, said they were trying to recruit more NHS dentists in what is a countrywide problem, with dentists saying that the Government is paying them too little and that they are ‘overstretched and underfunded’.
A MyDentist spokesman. ‘NHS denistry is facing unprecedented pressure which, since the pandemic, has resulted in more than 3,000 clinicians choosing to move away from providing NHS treatments. One of our self-employed dentists at the practice has made the same difficult decision.
‘We are doing everything we can to recruit more NHS dentists and are continuing to offer affordable private treatments to ensure patients can get access the care they need. We will also continue to provide emergency and ongoing NHS treatment.’
A spokesperson for NHS Devon said it was ‘working hard to improve the situation for residents’ with regard to NHS dentistry across Devon.
‘There are two dental practices providing NHS dental services in Tavistock, who continue to provide NHS dentistry. The dental team are working with both practices to support them while they experience recruitment challenges.
‘In Devon, as it is across the country, the pressure on NHS primary care dental teams is severe, with workforce shortages, high demand and a backlog to address. We have 154 NHS dental practices in Devon and we are working with local dentists to enable practices to take on more NHS patients.’
The spokesperson added that there were 86 urgent care appointments for dentistry available on the NHS across Devon, which can be accessed by calling the emergency NHS number 111.