Thousands of Islanders are now waiting to see a dentist, living in pain, embarrassment and going into debt to fund essential care, an Island health watchdog has warned.

There may be some hope on the horizon, however, that could lessen the dentistry crisis on the Island.

Following a review of services, NHS England is hoping to add another big dental practice on the Island by next spring.

When it could start accepting new patients or whether it would be enough provision was unknown and it was stressed there was a recruitment and retention issue for dentists on the Island.

Speaking at the Isle of Wight Council's health and scrutiny committee meeting yesterday (Monday), Alison Cross, NHS England's senior dental commissioning manager for the South East, was hopeful the restart of acceptance of overseas registration exams by the General Dental Council would attract dentists from abroad.

It would not be a quick fix to the Island's problems, Ms Cross said.

She first spoke to the committee in September last year but said pressures have continued to increase, with Island dentists only fulfilling 85 per cent of their contracted hours.

Part of the reason for the shortfall in hours, Ms Cross said, was due to the fact Covid infection, prevention and control measures for dental surgeries had not lifted, despite the national easing elsewhere.

From the summer, the way dental services are commissioned is changing, with the creation of the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care System.

Alison Smith, managing director of the NHS Hampshire, Southampton and Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group, said there was a real opportunity as the services would be commissioned locally and not nationally.

The localised approach, Ms Smith said, will help the care partnerships come up with innovative ideas.

Joanna Smith, Healthwatch Isle of Wight manager, said the lack of dentists on the Island was having a knock-on effect on the entire healthcare system — in primary, secondary and mental health care.

Healthwatch was prioritising speaking to dental providers to find answers to the problems the Island faces.