Plymouth patients face uncertain future as practice confirms dentist resignation
Patients in Plymouth are facing an uncertain future after a busy dental practice confirmed that another dentist has resigned.
At the start of the pandemic, Fauchard House Dental Surgery in North Hill had seven dentists, but six have left, leaving just the practice principal. Dr Sacha Young has been left alone following the sudden departure of Dr Shri Nair, who has moved to a different part of the country for personal reasons.
The news has left patients anxious and the practice team “devastated.” Dr Young has been trying to add to the team for months, but the practice manager said that it has been impossible to find qualified dentists who want to work for the NHS. Despite trying everything to recruit more dentists, vacancies have been left unfilled and Dr Young is now the only dentist at a practice with a list of 8,000 patients.
Patients at the practice face long waits for appointments and some may be looking to move elsewhere. However, there is a shortage of NHS dentists across the UK and many practices are in the same situation.
The British Dental Association (BDA) estimates that there are now over 1,000 fewer NHS dental clinics than there were five years ago. The pandemic has sparked a mass exodus and studies suggest that more NHS dentists could leave the profession or swap to private dentistry in the coming months.
Lee Finn, a patient at Fauchard House for over 40 years and a former city councillor, has been informed that he can no longer receive treatment at the practice due to staff shortages.
He said that he feels like he has been “cast adrift” with no surgeries in the area accepting new NHS patients. He, like many others, was forced to pay for private care during the pandemic at a cost of £300 for two fillings.
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