ONE of Cornwall’s MPs has said that the landscape of dentistry in Cornwall has completely collapsed, after new figures illustrate the crisis seen across the Duchy.

Ben Maguire, Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, has said the news figures on A&E visits by children in need of urgent dental care are “deeply shocking but sadly not surprising”, arguing they illustrate the complete collapse in access to NHS dentistry in Cornwall.

The latest figures, obtained by the MP through a Freedom of Information request, show that the number of children attending A&E in Cornwall's Treliske and West Cornwall hospitals, for urgent dental problems, has almost doubled since 2020/21. The MP says this "lays bare the scale of the NHS dentistry crisis" facing families across the Duchy.

Data from the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust shows that A&E attendances by under-18s for tooth decay and dental abscesses rose from 29 cases in 2020/21 to 56 cases in 2024/25, peaking at 64 cases in 2023/24. In total, 226 children have required emergency hospital treatment for dental issues over the past five years.

Commenting, on the revealing figures, Ben Maguire MP said: "These new figures make the national scandal playing out right here in Cornwall quite clear: Children are ending up in A&E, in severe pain, because they cannot access an NHS dentist - and yet the Prime Minister is adamant that NHS dentistry is 'trending in the right direction'. The reality is the complete opposite, and our situation here in Cornwall is absolutely unacceptable in 21st-century Britain.

"I’ve met parents in my constituency surgeries who are now at a point of desperation, with their children suffering needlessly, because routine dental care has all but vanished here in Cornwall. That’s why I recently set up the North Cornwall Dental Action Group, launched a petition backed by more than 1,500 local people already, and why I’ll keep pushing Ministers, the NHS and the ICB until this crisis is properly fixed."

Just weeks ago, Mr Maguire called for Cornwall Council's director of public health to resign over a "record of failure", after the director blocked a NHS Dentistry motion from being debated at Full Council.

The motion was brought forward on January 20, by Lib Dem Cllr Rosie Moore (Wadebridge East and St Minver). The aim was to address the growing collapse of NHS dentistry across Cornwall. The motion called on Cornwall Council to "communicate" and "partner" with NHS England and the local Integrated Care Board to explore an innovative dental pilot at the Goods Shed in Wadebridge. However, having already been approved for debate and carrying the support of the council leader Cllr Leigh Frost, Cllr O’Neill argued that the matter had been 'adequately consulted'.

Mr Maguire said that Cllr Moore's motion came amidst a growing NHS Dental Health crisis in the Duchy, after only 30 per cent of adults and 50 per cent of children were able to see an NHS dentist there last year.