A "five-point blueprint" to end NHS dental woes has been pitched by one of the region's MPs, as people continue to struggle to access the toothcare they desperately need.
Peter Aldous, MP for Waveney, has said he fears if more is not done to address "dental deserts" - including in Norfolk and Waveney - they will morph into a "large Sahara".
In a backbench debate on dentistry on Thursday, the Conservative MP set out a blueprint to combat the problems facing NHS dentistry consisting of five points.
These five priorities were:
- Finance
- Recruitment and retention
- Reforming NHS contracts
- Oral hygiene campaigns
- Accountability to local health authorities
Mr Aldous said: "Across the country, there is a multitude of dental deserts. If we do nothing, if we apply the odd sticking plaster here and there, they will turn into one large Sahara.
"We owe it to those that we represent to ensure this does not happen.
"This means we need as a matter of urgency that blueprint plan for NHS dentistry."
Mr Aldous said a new “long-term funding stream” was needed as “in recent years the NHS dental budget has not kept up with inflation and population growth”.
He added that a “strategic approach should be adopted” towards recruitment and retention, beginning with a short-term drive to step up recruitment from abroad, before making long-term commitments to create new dental training colleges.
Mr Aldous also said there should be “full local accountability for overseeing and commissioning NHS dentistry services”, as well as public promotion of good oral hygiene.
The debate came a week after another of the region's MPs highlighted troubles in dentistry in parliament, amid calls for more dentists to be trained locally.
Broadland MP Jerome Mayhew last week led calls for a dentistry college to be established in East Anglia, pitching the University of East Anglia and the University of Suffolk as potential locations.
He was backed in these pleas by Mr Aldous.
However, Will Quince, the government's dentistry minister, did not commit to supporting the proposals - on the day Liz Truss resigned as prime minister.
He said: "On this occasion, it is a no, but it is a 'no for now', and let's very much keep talking."
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