‘Prisoners are getting higher dental care’ than the law-abiding public, report claims

Prisoners are getting better dental care than the public – enjoying same day appointments and speedy treatments. Locked up lags are able to look after their pearly whites with ease despite their convictions, while the ordinary Joe struggles to even register for NHS treatment.

Rapists, murderers and sex offenders are among those behind bars getting free access to dentists and standard treatments almost immediately if they feel a niggle in their mouth. Meanwhile, just half of Brits (52%) have an NHS dentist, with millions unable to even be seen, according to the latest Office for National Statistics figures.

The shocking stats also revealed 97% of patients without a dentist who tried to get an NHS appointment in September because they were in pain were unable to. Inspection reports have revealed that prisons housing some of Britain’s most notorious criminals, including Belmarsh, Pentonville and Frankland, offer routine and urgent dentist appointments within weeks, if not the same day.

Campaigners have said it is also not on that as well as speedy treatment, prisoners are also exempt from having to pay the minimum £26.80 for a routine NHS check-up.

Dentists say they are opting to work behind bars because there are “better incentives” for them to do so as they do not have to hit hard targets and get paid more than they would working for the NHS.

Dennis Reed, the director of over-60s campaign group Silver Voices, said government priorities were “warped”. “It really exposes that in many parts of the country there isn’t any NHS dentistry at all,” he said.

“There may well be prisons that get NHS dentistry in areas which are NHS dental deserts – a little oasis in the middle of a whole area. It’s completely warped priorities and that needs to change. There are loads of areas where there is no way that you can sign on for an NHS dentist and that’s the reality that’s facing most people today.”

Last month, more than 100 people queued from 2.30am to register for an NHS dentist in Warrington, Cheshire, with similar scenes captured in Bristol earlier this year.

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