Dental kits which allow people to carry out their own fillings and repair caps and crowns at home are on the rise as patients say they can't afford a visit to the dentist. The kits, which can cost as little as £5 or even be bought in pound shops, are intended to provide a temporary solution for lost fillings or broken caps and crowns. However, more and more people are said to be buying the kits to carry out their own dental work as the price of receiving filling by a NHS dentist in England is as much as £52. More and more people suffering from dental problems are turning to DIY dentistry kits due to the price of NHS dental treatment (picture posed by model) According to the Guardian, one of the biggest sellers of first aid dental kits is DenTek, who sell around 250,000 products a year, although there is no research on how they are used. Among the items they sell are a temporary filling material as well as cap and crown cement. And although Department for Health figures show that more people than ever are receiving dental treatment on the NHS, experts are pointing to anecdotal evidence, which suggests that DIY dentistry is on the rise. John Wildman, a professor of health economics at Newcastle University told the newspaper: 'People at the lower end of the distribution curve - on big housing estates in the north-east, for instance - are effectively completely unreported. One of the DenTrek kits that can be bought to provide a temporary filling or repair a cap . 'They don't take part in surveys and they don't go to GP surgeries. Which is why you have a situation where people in the north-east have gaps in their teeth and are resorting to DIY dentistry.' Meanwhile others have pointed to the fact that in certain parts of England registering with an NHS dentist can be difficult due to huge waiting lists. An investigation last year found that some people were being forced to register with surgeries up to 40 miles from their home as nearby practices were refusing to take-on new patients. It also found that some NHS dental surgeries can have waiting lists of up to two years. The rise of the DIY kits come as British Dental Health Foundation revealed last year that one in five people admitted they would carry out DIY dentistry, including pulling out their own teeth, because they can't afford to go to the dentist. Their survey found that 17 per cent of people would remove their own tooth and that almost 80 per cent of those asked would leave a problem with their teeth until they could afford a dental appointment. The foundation also warned about 'senseless' examples of people pulling out the wrong tooth and ending up with infections after resorting to using doorknobs and string to yank out painful and infected teeth. Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation, said: 'DIY dentistry is both dangerous and unnecessary. There are too many senseless examples of people either pulling out the wrong tooth or ending up with an infection. 'It is all too easy to make the problem worse, which could result in more invasive and expensive treatment.'
Kits are intended to be a temporary solution to broken fillings and crowns.
They can be bought in supermarkets for around £5 or even pound shops.
Products are on the rise as people say they can't afford dental treatment.
Study reveals that 20 per cent of people would carry out DIY dentistry.