MP candidate joins calls describing Peterborough as a 'dental desert' as figures show over 100 hospitalisations due to dental issues

Peterborough’s MP candidate for the Labour party has joined calls describing the city as a “dental desert” following the release of new figures from the NHS.

The stats show that the 1,015 people were forced to attend A&E at hospitals run by North West Anglia Trust hospitals in the last year due to dental decay.

The trust runs Peterborough City Hospital, Hinchingbrooke Hospital and Stamford and Rutland Hospital.

In total, 720 patients were seen in A&E with a dental abscess, caused by tooth decay, and 295 with dental caries. Across the country last year, 67,000 patients attended emergency departments with tooth decay.

Peterborough MP Paul Bristow raised the issue of Peterborough being a “dental desert” in a meeting with Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Department of Health and Social Care Neil O’Brien MP in April.

Healthwatch Cambridgeshire and Peterborough has said the lack of availability of NHS dental services is among the biggest areas of concern raised in the city.

Andrew Pakes, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Peterborough commented:

“Peterborough is a dental desert with more people than ever struggling to find a local NHS dentist for either themselves or their children.

“I regularly meet people who can’t find an NHS dentist or, like one woman recently, had to now travel to Stevenage just to get an appointment.

“The reality is that patients are being forced into A&E with tooth decay as they have nowhere else to turn, with extra costs and misery for the NHS and for patients.

“We need to get the NHS working again, with the investment in NHS dentistry to start fixing this crisis so people can get an appointment when they need one.”