It's time communities in Yorkshire get the dental service they deserve - Tom Gordon

Children are waiting years for basic check-ups, emergency rooms are overwhelmed with cases of preventable tooth decay, and entire communities are becoming so-called ‘dental deserts.’

This is a growing public health emergency – and unless urgent action is taken, the damage will last for generations.

The statistics are stark. In North Yorkshire, nearly half of all children – more than 50,000 – weren’t seen by an NHS dentist in 2024.

Nationally, over 16,000 people ended up in A&E last year with tooth decay. Among children aged five to nine, it remains the leading cause of hospital admission.

These figures are a damning reflection of the Conservative Party’s long-standing neglect of our NHS.

While the pandemic made things worse, the crisis has been building for years – driven by chronic underfunding, workforce shortages, and poor planning.

NHS dentistry was already on the brink before Covid struck, and now it’s our communities – especially children – who are paying the price.

The pressure has only grown worse.

Dental practices are struggling with rising costs, worsened by the Labour Government’s recent increase in employer National Insurance contributions – a change implemented without an impact assessment, by their own admission.

This added burden is forcing already stretched practices to the edge of closure.

These failures have devastating, real-world consequences. Since being elected, I have heard from countless desperate residents and parents in Harrogate and Knaresborough who simply can’t access NHS dental care.

People are being left in pain, with some forced to turn to overstretched A&E departments for emergency care. It is unacceptable that such a basic form of healthcare is now out of reach for so many.

During a recent visit to a local school, the headteacher told me that most children hadn’t seen a dentist in years – despite NHS guidelines recommending annual check-ups for under-18s.

With NHS dentistry unavailable and private care unaffordable for many families, children as young as four or five at this school have already undergone tooth extractions due to untreated decay.

This crisis will not resolve itself. If we fail to act now, today’s children with untreated dental problems will become tomorrow’s adults with lifelong oral health issues.

We urgently need to train more dentists, increase capacity, and ensure that no community is left without access to care. Without these steps, we risk cementing a future defined by what people are now calling “dental deserts.”

Worryingly, it seems we are heading in that exact direction. In just the last four years, 8,500 dentists have left the profession, and another 4,000 are nearing retirement age.

Just this year, 329 NHS contracts were handed back by practices unable to survive under current funding arrangements.

In North Yorkshire, 20 dentists left the profession in 2024, and 37 were over the age of 55 – representing 14 per cent of all local dentists.

We are facing a bleak future if nothing changes. This is not just a healthcare issue – it’s a crisis with long-term social consequences.

Poor oral health can damage self-esteem, hinder job prospects, and damage mental well-being. It is deeply tied to social mobility and life chances. The government must take this crisis seriously.

The Liberal Democrats are calling for immediate action.

Our proposed £750 million NHS dentistry rescue package includes reforming NHS dental contracts to attract dentists back from the private sector, using flexible commissioning to better meet local needs, and launching an emergency scheme to guarantee free NHS check-ups for those already eligible.

This is the bold action our communities deserve. It’s time to stop papering over the cracks and start rebuilding a dental care system that works—for Harrogate and Knaresborough, and for the entire country. The government must act now.

Tom Gordon MP, Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough