Getting to the root of dentistry issues

Before proceeding, it is important to notify any residents in the west of Sherborne who read the West Dorset Magazine that, on June 29, polling stations will open from 7am to 10pm.

Over 2,200 households face a by-election for a new Dorset Councillor in the Sherborne West ward, following the resignation last month of the Liberal Democrat councillor Matthew Hall, who moved all the way to Devon almost a year ago. Matt only resigned his seat after winning an election in Exmouth in Devon a few weeks ago. And if he hadn’t have won the Exmouth election, he would have continued to

Politics

use his Sherborne electors from over 55 miles away to be paid £14,000 a year of taxpayers’ money as an absent councillor. This byelection provides electors with the chance to restore their voice on Dorset Council. The local Conservative candidate who lives in Lenthay in the Sherborne West ward is Rebecca Burns. Rebecca is a lifelong Sherborne resident and awardwinning owner of a business in the town centre, and she has my full support.

On Wednesday last week, I led a debate in Parliament to raise the issue with the provision of NHS dentistry in the

South West. Our region has been experiencing acute difficulties in accessing routine and emergency dental treatment. Access to dental services continues to be a difficulty. This is a particular problem which has persisted for many years and is a consequence of the covid backlog, the unpopular 2006 dental legislation and the unfair remuneration system. As a result of these problems, the number of NHS dentists turning to private practice has increased and has meant that many of our local practices are not accepting new patients.

Many constituents have rightly been in touch over the last few months to tell me of their difficulties accessing an NHS dentist, and I was glad to be amplify their concerns with neighbouring MPs to the Health Minister, Neil O’Brien. One of the reasons behind such a shortage of dentists is the difficulty to maintain the workforce in rural areas, such as here in West Dorset. Nationally, there is an uneven distribution of dentistry schools – while there are only currently two in the South West, there are six located in the North! In my speech, I proposed a new dental school in Dorset in order to help rectify this issue, and the Minister has agreed to meet with me to discuss this.