Cornwall named ‘Death Valley of dental deserts’ at first summit

Cornwall has a new label, and it is not one anyone wanted. At the county’s first ever Dentistry Summit, held at Lys Kernow on Friday (July 17), the state of local NHS dentistry was described as the “Death Valley of dental deserts”.

A panel of experts spent the day working through a single question: how to get more residents access to an NHS dentist. Organisers say the event has “paved the way for positive change”, and the panel is now drawing up an action plan so the summit “has teeth” and can bring about real change.

Who ran it, and what was discussed

The summit was organised by Cornwall Council and hosted by BBC Radio Cornwall presenter Julie Skentelbery. It was live streamed across Facebook, X and YouTube so residents could follow along from home.

The panel covered the difficulty of getting onto an NHS dentist’s books, waiting lists, the effect on children, recruiting more dentists, and how dentistry is funded.

The numbers behind the label

The latest figures set out the scale of the problem facing residents:

• 30% of five-year-olds in Cornwall have tooth decay, against 19.7% across the South West and 22.4% in England.
• Children in deprived areas are more than twice as likely to have tooth decay. One in six children in Cornwall live in the most deprived areas.
• Less than a third (30.6%) of adults saw an NHS dentist across 2023/24 and 2024/25.
• Less than half (48.9%) of children saw an NHS dentist in 2024/25.

What the panel said

Cllr Leigh Frost, Leader of Cornwall Council, put the focus on residents knowing where to turn.

“Clarity for residents is the key thing here. Residents must know where to go, how to do things and how it works. If we’re not telling them, they are not going to go to the right places,” he said.

Leigh said the panel would meet after the summit to develop a concrete plan. “I commit to working with our MPs to do everything we can to deliver tangible changes within our control and force government to bring tangible change that is out of our control,” he said. “I am confident this summit will pave the way for positive change.”

Cllr Thalia Marrington, Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Public Health, pointed to the number of organisations willing to work together.

“From today people will hopefully see the convening power of the Council to bring people together and see the willingness of all of these organisations to work together to bring about changes,” she said. “We all agree that there is no one organisation to blame and we must all work together to make improvements.”

Dr Eunan O’Neill, Director of Public Health for Cornwall, said he shared residents’ concerns about the state of dentistry in the county. “I’m delighted that my team and I have been able to support the Leader in bringing this issue to the public and show we are listening to their concerns,” Eunan said. “We must now work together to understand and ultimately fix the problems facing dentistry in Cornwall.”

The young people in the room

Two members of Cornwall Youth Council, Gabriel and Rosie, attended and asked what could be done to improve children’s oral health given the high levels of decay. Their question sits alongside Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, adopted by Cornwall Council in December 2025, which states that every child has the right to the best possible health.

Rosie said the figures on young people had stayed with her. “I found it incredible the amount of young people who aren’t actually seeing a dentist at all. More than half of them haven’t had a dentist appointment in the last 12 months and we really need to work on that,” she said.

Gabriel was blunter. “I’m shocked by the state of NHS dentistry in Cornwall for everybody, but particularly young people, and I think this sets people up for a lifetime of problems,” he said. “I hope Cornwall can now remove itself from the terrible position of having the worst dental access in the country.”

Watch it back

More information on the summit is on the Let’s Talk Cornwall website.