A Wiltshire dental nurse says the “stress” of the industry is driving many practitioners out and causing a dentistry shortage.

Seanan Thomas is the deputy manager and head nurse at Urchfont Dental Practice, which recently celebrated a decade of her and her sisters being at the helm.

The rural practice has enjoyed success over the last 10 years but is not currently taking on new private or NHS patients due to significant demand for its services.

Mrs Thomas said: “We shut our books for all new patients in April, and hope to review this over the summer, because we were oversubscribed, and existing patients were struggling to get in.”

Nationally, the UK has been described as facing a “chronic shortage” of dentists, with BBC research showing that, in 2022, nine out of ten NHS practices were not taking on new patients.

The Guardian reported that in 2021 over 2,000 dentists quit the NHS.

Mrs Thomas believes this shortage of dentists across the country is due to many being driven out of the industry, or discouraged from entering it, by the stress of the job.

She said: “I think there’s a shortage in supply, I personally know a lot of people who have chosen to leave since Covid.

“I think there’s been a reduction in dental services because it’s a really hard and stressful job, so I don’t think a lot of people are going into it.

“We need to work extra hours to work through all the protocols so, if it wasn’t for our lovely practice and my sisters, I could see why people would leave.”

The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald: The Urchfont Dental teamThe Urchfont Dental team (Image: Urchfont Dental)

Urchfont Dental Care is a predominantly private practice, with some NHS contracts that are mainly reserved for children.

Mrs Thomas says the practice would like to take on more NHS contracts in the future, but believes many others are choosing to drop NHS patients amidst a strain on resources.

She added: “A lot of practices are choosing to drop NHS contracts because you don’t make money from them.

“We’re happy to have more, but we’ve been given quite a small amount.

“At the moment they’re not an appealing thing for businesses.”

Mrs Thomas believes a shift in how all staff members in the profession would help to reverse the national shortage of dentists.

This is something that has been employed at Urchfont Dental, which boasts high staff retention rates.

“We had to work hard to keep staff morale up”, she added.

“We do things as a team and have got through the tough times.”