Last week, your local MP, Andrew Western led a debate in Parliament on access to dentistry for cancer patients. He did this to highlight the phenomenal campaigning of a local constituent, Michele. Michele is a cancer survivor who has spent years raising awareness of the important, but often unrecognised, connection between cancer and dental health. 

Both chemotherapy and radiotherapy can worsen existing dental health issues or cause new ones entirely such as ulcers, crumbling teeth, or potentially serious infection. In some cases, the emergence of these problems can prevent cancer treatment from beginning or continuing. There are heartbreaking stories of people who were previously dentally healthy losing almost all their teeth during treatment. 

People with cancer need to be able to access dentistry, but the crisis in our dental system is stopping this from happening. Finding an NHS dentist is becoming almost impossible, with the number of NHS dentists in England having fallen to levels not seen since 2016. 

Too often people with cancer who need dental treatment are facing the choice of going private or going without. When the costs of private dentistry are so high, that is not really a choice at all for many cancer patients who often must give up work due to their condition. 

Access to dentistry for cancer patients must be improved as a matter of urgency and this is where Michele’s campaign comes in. 

While the long-term goal of the campaign – which now has almost 200,000 supporters – is free dental care for those with cancer, it also proposes more immediate options for improving access to dental treatment. One of these proposals is for cancer and dentistry services to be joined together so people with cancer can be offered out-patient appointments with hospital dentists alongside their other treatment. This is a practical step that could make really make a positive difference. 

Andrew was pleased that last week’s debate gave me the chance to highlight these proposals to Andrea Leadsom, the government minister with responsibility for dentistry. Michele and Andrew will now be meeting the Minister to talk about Michele’s campaign in more detail.  

They have already met with Labour’s Shadow Minister for Public Health and Primary Care, Preet Gill, and had a really constructive conversation about the challenges people with cancer are having accessing dental treatment.  

Andrew hopes that these meetings can be beginning of cross-party work on cancer and dental care because, as he said during the debate, this is not a party-political issue, but it is something we must get right. It is the least we can do for people who are already facing one of life’s toughest challenges.