Thousands of emergency dental appointments to be made available
NHS bosses in Wiltshire are taking action to meet demand to urgent treatment
Action is being taken to make extra emergency dental appointments available to patients in Wiltshire.
Chief Executive for NHS Bath, Swindon and Wiltshire, Jonathan Higman, says access to routine dentistry is a major issue in modern society.
"We know there are real pressures, particularly around urgent dentistry," he said. "As well as opening routine appointments, further routine appointments across the county, we're really focused on urgent dental access for people as well."
In a bid to provide more urgent dental appointments, an extra 12,000 spaces are set to be made available to patients in Wiltshire in the new year.
We'll be able to access them via NHS 111.
Mr Higman said: "If people need urgent dental access, I'd encourage them to ring NHS 111, that's the route in for that."
He highlighted some of the challenges that are feeding "massive demand" for dentist appointments, with waiting lists growing all the time.
"I think over the last 10 years or so, a real problem with recruitment of dentists," he said. "We've seen new and innovative ways of being able to support new dentists to come into the area, so we're thinking about the training of dentists."