PATIENTS were left in agony after dentists were shut down without a replacement service for nearly a month, it has been claimed.

All face-to-face dental appointments were cancelled amid the coronavirus crisis by Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley, on March 25.

Dentists say they were told dental hubs, which would conduct emergency procedures, were due to be set up as a replacement.

However, confused dental practitioners say they were left in the dark and patients were left suffering, as it took nearly a month to be told of such a hub in the Brighton and Hove area.

One dentist in the Brighton area, who did not want to be named, said: “There are hubs set up in some areas but we have had no communication – no information.

“We are a small dental patient with a list of about 50 patients who have contacted me, some with raging toothache and others with swellings.

“There are some really big NHS dentist practices in Brighton that have thousands more patients than our practice.”

Dentists in the area say they were asked to volunteer for the planned hubs by April 10.

But no one was in contact until last week and the frustrated dentists are having to treat ailments over the phone.

The dentist added: “We are primarily a care-based profession so it’s quite difficult to sit on the end of the phone and say have some antibiotics when we know we could have the patient out of pain in an hour.

“We are medically trained so give us something to do, we would go anywhere – you could get dentists out there and helping out in other ways.”

Last Monday, dentists were told they could book patients into the emergency hub in the Brighton and Hove area using an online application.

But, despite trying for nearly a week, they say applications are being rejected and even patients with serious toothache did not fit the criteria.

Earlier this month, The British Dental Association has claimed that England “continued to lag behind the other three nations” in relation to setting up the urgent care centres.

It said that roughly half of the planned 160 centres are currently up and running.

An NHS England and NHS Improvement South East spokeswoman said: “We are working with local dental networks to set up Urgent Dental Care hubs to provide urgent treatment on a face-to-face basis when it is required. There are nineteen hubs being put in place across Sussex, Surrey and Kent.”

  • The coronavirus Sussex Crisis Fund has been set up to help those affected by the pandemic. The Argus’s charity and American Express have each donated £50,000 to kick-start the appeal. Grants will usually be for up to £5,000. More information is available at www.sussexgiving. org.uk/apply. To donate visit www.totalgiving.co.uk/appeal/sussexcrisisfund