Three new NHS dental practices offering a combined 20,000 patient places are opening in a county to help tackle a lack of dental care.
Two new dental practices which opened in Chard and Wellington in Somerset will be followed by a third due to open in Crewkerne in January.
This marks the first large-scale procurement of NHS dental services in the county since local NHS commissioners took over responsibility for dentistry from NHS England in April 2023.
Among the first patients was Emily Farr from Chard who said: “It’s a huge relief to have this here. I’ve had problems with a tooth for three to four years. I have looked at private treatment, but the costs are in the thousands.”
About 8,000 people have expressed an interest in an appointment at the new practice in Chard via an online portal, with more than half of those coming from the town and surrounding villages.
The lack of NHS dentists meant patients like Nickie Smith from Bridgwater struggled to find one.
The 73-year old fell off her mobility scooter a year ago and had to live with broken front teeth for six months before finally getting her teeth removed and having a denture fitted after being taken on as an NHS patient.
Mrs Smith said: “It was horrible waiting all that time. I was so embarrassed as I didn’t have any front teeth.
“The dentists were so busy and I was six months without proper teeth.”
Another patient, Roxy Koszmida from Chard, took to Facebook to raise her concerns about non-local patients registering.
As a disabled person Roxy said she cannot afford private dentistry and has not seen a dentist for five years, and claimed to have repeatedly been unable to register at the new practice because its website kept crashing.
She said: “I am angry as some people living in Wells and Glastonbury registered and were already contacted to make their appointments. It feels very unfair.”
Farha Mohamed, partner of One Smile Dental, the new practice in Chard, said: “Our focus is on doing our best for local people.
“We know not everyone who wanted an appointment has been able to get one, but we really want to open access to more people – hopefully in mid-2026 – once we have seen our initial group of patients.”
