The British Dental Association has applauded a video message from Nick Whelan, the student who nearly died of sepsis for want of a dental appointment.
Nick was forced to undergo life-saving surgery after he was admitted to Ninewells Hospital with septicaemia in 2021. Nick, 22, said he had been struggling to get a dentist appointment after his toothache began at the tail-end of the first lockdown in September 2020.
In a video message marking World Oral Health Day, Nick says: “I have a simple message for everyone out there across the UK and beyond.
“To every patient waiting in pain, to every politician and policymaker, and to every dentist worried about what might come through that door next.
Dental health matters. It is not an optional extra. It is a vital part of our lives.
“Dental care is healthcare.
“Nobody should have to go through what I did, but I know until dentistry is taken seriously they will.”
Across the UK the BDA has been pressing for urgent reform to give NHS dentistry a sustainable future.
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said: “Nick has offered a message that every Health Minister in every part of the UK needs to hear.
“The tone is very much ‘Horrible Histories’. The real scandal is this is the reality facing patients in a wealthy 21st century nation.”
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