Norwich dental practice gets 16,000 applications from patients in a day

Dr Alba Torrado-Varela has been working in the United Kingdom as a dentist for the past 14 years.

She said: “Demand is huge. It’s always been really busy in the practices I’ve worked at… I’ve never known anything like this.

“It’s been tough… it means a lot of people are not able to access dental care.”

She said if there was a possibility the practice could help it was “happy to lend a helping hand”.

The practice is now in the process of choosing patients, and said it would start off by prioritising children.

A spokesperson for the NHS Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board (ICB), said the demand for dental services was not unique to Norfolk and Waveney.

It said: “Since taking on responsibility for dental services in 2023, we have already made improvements to access and treatment, but we know there is still much more to do.

“This year we are investing an additional £7m into services which will improve access for new patients, establish child-focussed dental practices, recruit and retain our valued staff and continue our newly established urgent treatment service.

“These are priorities local people told us were important to them when we engaged with them earlier this year.

“We are absolutely committed to improving dental care for our local patients and communities.”