'THERE IS A DENTAL CRISIS AND VOTERS DESERVE BETTER'
Pamela Widdison, Kevin Paul and Billy Crotty said they were left in pain after they could not get an NHS dentist.
Some found solutions privately, one could not afford it, but they all believed the NHS dental system was in crisis and needed to change.
They were among the many people who got in touch with the BBC, via Your Voice, Your Vote, and said NHS dentistry was the most important issue for them in the general election.
"Our teeth are rotting and decaying and we deserve better," Mrs Widdison said.
'Victorian England'
Mrs Widdison, a retired teacher from Watton in Norfolk, said her teeth were "crumbling" and that people like her were "suffering in silence".
She said she could not afford private treatment and did not want to discuss the extreme measures that she had taken, as she was worried it might influence others.
"We are not in Victorian England," she added.
"People are resorting to doing things that mean they'll end up in an accident and emergency department."
She said she got through the day by taking painkillers and "just prayed the day came to an end" and she could get to sleep.
Mrs Widdison said she had been left with "stumps" and had to prepare herself a contraption to support the tooth that caused her pain if she wanted to talk.
She said it was "a humiliation" to walk outside and added: "You spit, it is not nice at all.
"My chances of ever getting a job or contributing to the community I love, is zero."
'Money we can't afford'
Kevin Paul, 65, a welder from Mattishall in Norfolk said his friend couldn't get emergency dental care for six days.
He said together, they had spent more than £6,000 on private dental care in two years.
Mr Paul felt they had paid national insurance for 45 years, so should not need to budget for dental care.
"We're getting to retirement age and we're having to pay this money out which seems so unfair," he said.
Mr Paul said he hadn't been able to spend money "on a holiday or changing the car,"
"It's quite a bit of money we can't afford," he added.
'Going private helps'
Billy Crotty, 42 from Wimpole in Cambridgeshire previously knocked a tooth out and said his mouth was in a bad state as he didn't have an NHS dentist.
The tree surgeon, who now travelled abroad to see a dentist in Bulgaria every two years, said it was considerably cheaper than paying private prices in England.
"I paid around £80 for a root canal treatment compared to £1,200 in this country," he said.
"I also had three implants which were £500 compared to £2,000 each here."
He said he was so pleased with the work, which stopped his pain, that his wife was joining him next time.
"I feel it takes the strain off the NHS in this country," he added.
"Going private helps and travelling abroad is a good solution. I think by going to Bulgaria it saves having to take their workforce."
Mr Crotty believed the government after the election would find it difficult to get dentists to work in the NHS, for less money and more stress.
"I think one of the solutions might be to train people and pay for their university fees, then perhaps they could be contracted to work for the NHS for a couple of years," he suggested.
'We need a pot of money'
Chris Kelly co-owns private practice Leiston Dental Care in Suffolk.
He said it was too difficult to find dentists to work in the NHS and the problems were as much about conditions as salary.
He claimed it was normal in the NHS to see 30-50 patients a day.
"They need to get rid of the target driven mentality so we can spend more time with our patients," he said.
"It needs to be funded in the same way as a GP practice. We need a pot of money to see a certain number of patients in a town, rather than being paid for a band of procedures.
"I think dentists would return to the NHS in droves if it was funded in that way."
Mr Kelly said he felt the system disincentivised dentists to see new patients who needed a lot of work.
'On the floor'
The Toothless campaign began in Suffolk 2021 after the last dental practice in Leiston went private.
Since then, it has grown to 16 lobby groups across the country.
Founder Mark Jones said the oral health of the country was "on the floor" and was concerned people could die from dental sepsis without treatment.
"Politicians need to be a lot more radical," he said.
"Only 50% of the population has funding for their oral health. It's like saying only half of the population can get a GP.
"They need to shift the dial and get it fully funded."
Mr Jones thinks dental hygienists and therapists should be brought into the NHS and said the budget needed to double.
What do the political parties say?
The Conservatives said it would continue to reform the dental contract. It said it would ensure that newly qualified dentists work in the NHS for a number of years or pay back training costs.
It also said it would boost training places for dentists and other dental professionals by 40%, introduce payments to encourage dentists to work in rural and coastal areas and mobile dental vans.
The Labour Party said it would reform the dental contract with a focus on prevention. It said it would provide 700,000 more urgent dental appointments and supervised tooth brushing for three to five year olds.
The Liberal Democrats said it would fix the broken dental contract. It said it would ensure an NHS dentist for everyone needing urgent or emergency care, scrap VAT on children's toothbrushes and toothpaste and introduce supervised toothbrushing for children.
The Green Party were the only party to promise access to an NHS dentist for all. It said it would commit to an additional £3bn a year by 2030 for dentistry.
It said they would introduce a new NHS dentists contract. It also promised free dental nursing for children and those on low incomes
Reform UK did not mention dentistry in its manifesto but said it would give work to private companies to bring down waiting lists, including some abroad.
It said it would introduce a tax relief of 20% on all independent healthcare and insurance, encouraging people to go private if they could afford to.
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