Student developed sepsis after failing to get a dental appointment
Dentists in Scotland say the sector is still struggling with the impact of the Covid-19 lockdown.
A student spent six weeks in hospital with a deadly sepsis infection after failing to get a dental appointment for his toothache due to NHS backlogs.
Nick Whelan was forced to undergo life-saving surgery after he was admitted to Ninewells Hospital with septicaemia in 2021.
Nick, 22, said he had been struggling to get a dentist appointment after his toothache began at the tail-end of the first lockdown in September 2020.
He told STV News: “Most of the time when you get a toothache, you kind of dread having to get it over and done with. I left it to kind of develop and didn’t really think much about it, until I started getting quite a bit of swelling and a bit of pressure.
“I tried to get a few dentist appointments where I was, at the time, registered and unfortunately they were so busy, they were stretching weeks ahead and I was a bit complacent with it, I suppose. Unfortunately it developed further from there.”
Nick said he tried to schedule a dental appointment for weeks but failed to secure one due to the delays. He also attempted to get in to see a GP but had to make do with phone consultations. Less than six months later, he was admitted to Ninewells Hospital’s emergency department. The abscess on his tooth had led to blood poisoning, which had spread throughout his body and vital organs.
He was put in an induced coma and underwent an operation to remove the infected tissue. He spent six weeks recovering in hospital following his operation, which has left him with permanent scarring on his neck and back.
March will mark five years since the Covid-19 lockdown was announced, and dentists in Scotland say the sector is still struggling with the impact. Figures show that nearly 40% of people registered with a dentist have not seen one in two years, and 80,000 children and a quarter of adults registered at a practice have not seen a dentist in five years.