80% of NHS dentists in England have refused to take on new adult patients, a survey has revealed.<br /><br />Figures released yesterday by Labour found 54% of surgeries aren't accepting any new patients.<br /><br />82% are refusing to take on adults and 71% aren't taking on children as patients any more<br /><br />-<br /><br />Dad-of-one George Glinos, 68, pulled out 11 of his own teeth with pliers when he couldn't get a dentist appointment.<br /><br />He says he lives on soup due to having only one incisor on his bottom jaw, and four "stubs" on his top jaw.<br /><br />George, a retired builder, gave up his old dentist four years ago as he was unhappy with the practitioner.<br /><br />He was unable to find another practice and so he dealt with a gum infection by pulling out infected teeth with pliers, last year.<br /><br />He eventually managed to get an emergency dentist appointment, but said as he has no loose or infected teeth it didn't achieve anything.<br /><br />George, from Childwall, Liverpool, cannot afford private dental care as he is on a state pension.<br /><br />He says NHS England told him to call 111.<br /><br />George said: "I'm at my wits' end.<br /><br />"I don't have any teeth, and I need teeth.<br /><br />"They just list all the things they can't do.<br /><br />"I have one tooth on my bottom jaw, an incisor, and on my top jaw, four stumps which were filed down for caps.<br /><br />"It takes four hours to eat a meal, or a minimum of two hours.<br /><br />"If I eat too fast, I swallow big lumps.<br /><br />"It makes my gums sore.<br /><br />"If I eat with my daughter and grandson, I get left on the table.<br /><br />"Most of the time I just don't finish it so I'm hungry all the time.<br /><br />"If this bottom tooth goes I'll be on baby food.<br /><br />"I'm not in a position of being able to afford implants.<br /><br />"If they took the teeth out I'd have no teeth for several months.<br /><br />"It just keeps on going."<br /><br />-<br /><br />Richard Howe, 58, was forced to travel to war-torn Ukraine for dental treatment - after he failed to get an appointment with the NHS.<br /><br />He developed an abscess under his tooth last month, which was causing him severe discomfort.<br /><br />He called his local NHS dentist to book an appointment, but he was not registered, and was told he'd have to go private to be seen - at considerable cost.<br /><br />So, Richard decided to travel to Kyiv, where he lived before the war, to get the work done at his old dental practice.<br /><br />And it was HALF the price quoted in the UK, including travel costs.<br /><br />Dad-of-three Richard, from Ely, Cambridgeshire, said: "I was in loads of pain, but I was told outright there was no chance of me getting an appointment with the NHS.<br /><br />"So, I got one in Ukraine, straight away, for a fraction of the cost. It just shows how much of a mess NHS dental care is over here right now."<br /><br />Richard, whose wife is Ukrainian, grew frustrated after being fobbed off by his local NHS dentist.<br /><br />The quote to have his abscess removed privately was a minimum of £875, plus a £75 emergency fee.<br /><br />Richard spent 12 years living in Kiev with his wife and family and returned back to the UK a month before Putin's brutal invasion.
