Philip, a non-verbal 7-year-old, is one of thousands waiting months in pain for extractions in our hospitals.
The last Government had no shortage of soundbites on the tens of thousands of children ending up in hospital for dental extractions. But, to date, the kids facing year-long waits have yet to get anything that looks like real support from Westminster.
We now have a new team at Downing Street and the Department of Health. There has been activity in general dental services, and upstream, on preventive programmes to reduce some of these problems.
But what we are not seeing is the openness and resources to tackle the backlogs facing hospital and community dentists. So, we are setting out the challenge to ministers, that they need to do more than lament that tooth extractions remain the number one reason for hospital admissions among young children.
Meet Philip
The emphasis we are placing here is reflected in dialogue with the mother of seven-year-old Philip, a non-verbal autistic child from Macclesfield, who has spent almost four months living with a painful dental abscess while waiting for “urgent” dental treatment.
Philip’s mother, Hayley, is fighting for Special Educational Needs (SEN) children facing eye watering waits, and has launched a petition.
Hayley is calling for a maximum 12-week wait for SEN children requiring urgent dental treatment under sedation or general anaesthetic, increased surgical capacity, and greater accountability for delays that leave vulnerable children in prolonged pain. While Philip has waited months, we know many other SEN children are waiting years.
It’s heartbreaking watching your child live with that level of pain and knowing there’s so little you can do” Hayley told us. “Philip spent his seventh birthday with an abscess and in intense pain. School have noticed the difference too. He often sits holding his mouth in his hands. It’s as though the pain is becoming normal for him.”
With an abscess at the front of his mouth, several baby teeth potentially require removal. This pathway is stretched and under-resourced, and as we know due to the huge number of routine paediatric cases requiring referrals, SEN children can often end up waiting months longer than others with the same condition to secure a slot, living with pain while their families fight to access the care they need.
So, what has Government done to help children like Philip?
Yes, there has been a welcome focus on preventive programmes like supervised brushing to bring down demand longer term, there has been no clear government effort to bring down these huge backlogs across secondary and community care.
A lack of transparency and priority
How bad is the problem? We can’t honestly say.
The Government has failed to publish figures on waiting times in the Community Dental Service (CDS), despite gathering data for nearly a year. And, in recent weeks, we’ve seen multiple parliamentary questions we’ve asked MPs to table deftly evaded.
We know how shocking and politically embarrassing these figures have been in the past. But concealing them is not a coherent strategy. We need clarity on the problems, and solutions tailored to meet them.
We will not tolerate government playing the three wise monkeys with general anaesthetic extractions.
But it is also a question of clinical priority. We have found trusts asking their dental teams to down drills and free up theatre space to help them better hit government targets for other procedures.
Our members are still fighting a losing battle for priority, and access to theatre space must not be treated as a zero-sum game by officials.
A new team at the Department of Health and Social Care must turn the page, with full waiting list transparency, and appropriate support and priority for those on the coalface, often treating some of the most vulnerable patients in society.
But we know there’s more that needs to be done.
The Government needs to reverse the decline in the CDS workforce so that there's capacity to clear backlogs - not expecting more from the same group of dedicated, but over-stretched clinicians. That needs to be underpinned by a review of pay so that it is an attractive and fairly rewarded career.
And the Hospital Dental Service must be supported to ensure that there are the right specialists in the right places to deliver advanced care, with training routes for early career dentists to build the skills and experience to treat patients of the future.
Moving backwards
This month our friends at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health updated their landmark State of Child Health report, warning that the UK is raising one of the unhealthiest generations in decades.
The report stressed that tooth decay in children is entirely preventable, yet remains highly prevalent in England, affecting 22% of five-year-olds in 2024, with progress stalling since 2020, driving hospital admissions and disproportionately affecting children in more deprived communities.
These are not just statistics. They are kids like Philip waiting months or even years struggling to eat, to sleep and to learn.
They deserve so much better, as do our members working hard on the frontline. We won’t let this one go.
