Plymouth student drove 100 miles to have a tooth extracted after struggling to get an urgent appointment
A student from Plymouth ended up driving 100 miles to see a dentist after struggling to get an emergency dental appointment in the city.
Jodie Tripp, 19, was encouraged to contact the Dental Access Centre at the Seven Trees clinic in Plymouth after calling NHS 111, but she was unable to get through to make an appointment. Despite being referred for urgent care, Jodie couldn’t get through to the hub on the phone and her emails remained unanswered. In total, Jodie called over 100 times and eventually, after reaching a point where she couldn’t cope with the pain, she drove to her hometown of Dorchester, where her mum had been able to get an appointment for her.
Jodie is a first year student at the University of Plymouth and she had called NHS 111 after developing severe tooth pain at the end of February. She was advised to contact the local urgent care centre but none of her calls connected and she didn’t receive a response from her emails.
After giving up hope of getting an appointment in Plymouth, Jodie decided to go back to Dorchester where her mum had booked an appointment to see a local dentist. The pain was getting worse and Jodie ended up having the tooth extracted.
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