Bristol Residents line Up before Dawn for NHS dental Appointments
huge queues formed outside Lodge Causeway Dental in Bristol this morning as the practice began offering new NHS appointments. people began lining up before 6:00 AM, hoping to secure a place as an NHS patient, according to a report by Bristol Post. The scenes highlight the ongoing crisis in access to NHS dentistry across the country.
The desperate demand for NHS dental care comes amid deep, structural issues with the system and exacerbated by the recent departure of dentists following the COVID-19 pandemic. The government directly referenced similar scenes outside St Pauls Dental in 2024 when announcing in February that 700,000 new urgent appointments would be made available nationwide, a move prompted by growing public concern.The underlying problems within NHS dentistry are complex and date back decades, stemming from the introduction of dental charges in 1951 and continuing through successive labor and Conservative governments.
