Free fillings and same day appointments: How prisoners enjoy better NHS dentistry than the public
Prisoners have better access to dentists than millions of law-abiding patients , The Telegraph can disclose.
Convicts, including those in high-security jails for murder, rape or paedophilia, are able to get standard NHS dental care as quickly as the same day, and are also exempt from paying.
Inspection reports reveal 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.
Meanwhile, just 52 per cent of the British public have an NHS dentist , according to the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures, which also revealed that 97 per cent of patients without a dentist who tried to get an NHS appointment in September were unable to.
Campaigners complained that prisoners in these so-called "dental deserts" were more likely to receive NHS treatment than those on the outside.
The majority of the public, including those who have retired, also have to pay a minimum £26.80 for a routine NHS check-up, if and when they get one, while prisoners are exempt from paying, along with under-18s and pregnant women.
Dentists say there are also better incentives for them to do prison work, which is outsourced to private firms free of NHS contracts and targets, and they can get paid more than they would working for the health service.
In last week's edition of The Telegraph's Diary Of a Secret Prisoner – dispatches from an inmate at a Category B prison – the author described their new access to a dentist as a major perk of jail.
"After years of searching for an NHS dentist, I have finally found a very good one in prison," they wrote.
Belmarsh prison in south-east London is one of the highest security jails in Britain. Convicts serving time there have included Charles Bronson, once labelled Britain's most dangerous man, and Abu Hamza, the fundamentalist preacher convicted of terrorism, as well as Michael Adebolajo, who murdered soldier Lee Rigby, and Ali Harbi Ali, who murdered Tory MP David Amess.
An inspection in June by the HM Inspectorate of Prisons said of the prison's dental provision that "waiting times were good, with most people getting an initial assessment within seven days and ongoing treatments within a similar timeframe".
Urgent appointments were quicker if needed and prisoners received treatments including "dentures, root canal work, scales, fillings, and promoting oral health" with six sessions a week. There was also a fortnightly session for "complex cases" to reduce hospital escorts, it said.
The service is provided by Prisoner Centred Dental Care, which also works in six other prisons, including Wandsworth and Brixton.
Care 'reasonable' even in failing jail
In Wandsworth, an inspection in July found "failings were evident in almost all aspects of the prison's operation" but dental care was considered "reasonable".
Despite the widespread violence, use of illicit drugs, security concerns, and officers celebrating suicides, the prison typically ensured inmates were given a routine dental appointment within seven weeks.
In HMP Verne on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, which has named the nickname 'Paedo Alcatraz' because of housing hundreds of sex offenders and paedophiles including Gary Glitter, inmates were seen within two weeks of requesting an appointment, according to a report from an inspection in July.
HMP Verne's dental services are outsourced to Time for Teeth, which provides dental care to 75 different prisons across England, including Pentonville in north London, where waits are two to six weeks.
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. 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," he said.
"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 at an NHS dentist in Warrington, with similar scenes captured in Bristol earlier this year.
The latest NHS data shows that just 40 per cent of adults had seen an NHS dentist in the two years ending June 2024, and only 56 per cent of children had received a check-up in the previous 12 months.
Analysis by the Labour party for 2022-23 revealed that 100,000 children and adults had gone to A&E with tooth decay or dental cavities, and 4.75 million people had been denied an appointment with an NHS dentist in the previous two years.
The Government has pledged an extra 700,000 urgent appointments each year, but last Friday the British Dental Association (BDA) wrote to the Treasury asking for clarity about how these will be funded.
The union told Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, that "the Budget is set to significantly add to the financial pressures [dental practices] face, whether they offer NHS, private or mixed care" and that "cost increases will have an impact on access to NHS dentistry".
Incentives greater for dentists
Prison dental care is commissioned by NHS England and typically outsourced to private providers that specialise in prison dentistry. The result is that the incentive for dentists – both NHS and private – is greater than for standard NHS work, with more flexible hours, better pay, and fewer targets.
The NHS is obliged to provide the same level of care as to the wider public, but while wait times and the quality of care varies in jail, all prisoners have free access to dentists and standard treatments.
Dentists working in the private sector can earn as much as 50 per cent of a treatment bill depending on the contract negotiated with their practice, often amounting to as much as £500 a day. Their rate varies according to seniority, experience, clinic and location.
Remuneration for NHS dentists tends to be much lower, with an average rate of £17 per treatment and the expectation of performing 25 to 30 of these "units of dental activity", according to consultancy Dental Elite.
Wholly private dentists can expect to earn more than £140,000 a year, according to job website Prospects, compared with the salary of between £47,653 to £101,923 of NHS dentists. Eddie Crouch, the chair of the British Dental Association, said: "Officials are mandated to offer prisoners an equivalent level of service to the public. With access so poor both behind bars and on the high street they've certainly achieved that.
He added: "Underfunded and overstretched, prison dentistry is the wider NHS in miniature. Where a very high needs population can face very familiar waiting times."
Prisoners across the 122 jails in England and Wales are also exempt from paying under Government rules, which means fillings, dentures and other procedures are all paid for by the taxpayer. All these treatments can cost NHS patients hundreds of pounds.
In HMP Oakwood, routine waits were less than four weeks but "patients experiencing pain were able to see a dentist within one working day", in Buckley Hall prison "there were virtually no waits to access assessment and support".
Meanwhile in HMP Frankland in County Durham, a high-security jail housing Wayne Couzens, the former Metropolitan Police officer who is serving a whole life order for the kidnap, rape and murder of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, inmates can expect to be seen on "the same day" for urgent appointments or if they are in pain.
Inspections of other prisons found delays in dental care provision. Concerns were raised in HMP High Down about the waiting times for accessing a dentist, although an inspection earlier this year found "good progress" was being made on bringing these down.
HMP Wakefield, nicknamed "Monster Mansion" for housing some of Britain's worst criminals, had "good care" but with waits of up to five months for a check-up, according to its most recent inspection.
Prisoners often considered 'higher-need'
Other inspections did not report on dental care at all.
Prisoners make up less than 1 per cent of dental work each year and are often considered higher-need patients, with a greater proportion requiring urgent care.
A Government spokesman said: "This Government is committed to rebuilding NHS dentistry, but it will take time.
"We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients."
An NHS spokesman said: "As commissioners for prison healthcare, NHS England is legally tasked with ensuring dental care is provided to patients in prison. The NHS recognises that there is a lot of work to do to boost every day NHS dental care right across the country and that's why we are working with the Government on measures to boost access, such as incentivising dentists to work in underserved areas."
