North Cornwall Dental Campaign

05/06/2026

Ben Maguire MP has obtained information that Cornwal ICB (who commission Dental Sevices in the county) returned £1.22 million to NHS England in February. This was unspent money from the dentistry budget.
Ben estimates this would have paid for 40,000 check ups.
Ben is demanding the ICB get on top of the budget and ensure this is not repeated in future.
"A kick in the teeth" for the 1,000s of residents needing dental appointments.

25/04/2026

22/04/2026

Moving dentistry up the agenda - Cornwall Council are beginning to take the need for greater access to NHS Dentists seriously.

19/04/2026

Ben Maguire spoke at a meeting arranged by the Trustees of the Goods Shed, in support of their application to open an NHS Dental provision in Wadebridge.
The Goods Shed have made a planning application for change of use. Ben is working with them to find NHS Dentists and staff to support the community-led project.

16/04/2026

Cornwall Council will be debating the dental care for children, thanks to Wadebridge East and St Minver Ciuncillor, Rosie Moore

🦷 Cornwall Dentistry Motion 🪥

Following my meeting with the Director of public health at the end of March, I’m looking forward to bringing my dental motion to Full Council next week.

We’ll be focusing on practical steps to improve oral health across Cornwall, including:

• Identifying schools not currently engaged in oral health programmes and supporting greater uptake, while exploring opportunities to extend supervised toothbrushing through Family and Wellbeing Hubs

• Working with partners, including Smile Together, to expand the dental van and develop dental nurse-led check-up and referral pathways into NHS services

• Investigating ways to encourage local students into dentistry and support their return to practise in Cornwall

• Ensuring all Looked After Children are registered with an NHS dentist and receive a check-up within six months of entering care

Improving access to dentistry is a priority, and I’m keen to see meaningful progress while working alongside the North Cornwall Dental Campaign

14/04/2026

I had a productive and positive meeting yesterday with the Director of Public Health discussing my dentistry motion.

We talked in detail about the importance of preventative measures currently focused on younger children and how we can extend these further to benefit older children. I also asked about innovative ways to deliver dental care, focusing on how we can reach as many people as possible and make services more accessible.

Of course, we discussed the ongoing challenges facing NHS dentistry. While meaningful reform will take time, I made it clear that we need action now not just long-term plans. As a result, I’ll be working on bringing forward another motion to Full Council to push for practical solutions we can start implementing as soon as possible.

Plenty more work ahead, but a very constructive step in the right direction.

13/04/2026

Cornwall needs dentists so badly!

27/03/2026

The mobile dental van has finally begun seeing patients in North Cornwall.

Ben Maguire MP has been pressing for the van to come to our area. This week it visited Bude, the first time the service has been available in North Cornwall.

The Mobile Dental Unit (MDU) is commissioned by Cornwall ICB, the dental care is provided by Smile:Together There are still many towns and villages across North Cornwall without access to NHS dentistry. So we must maintain pressure to expand this service to every community.

Picture: Ben Maguire MP and local councillors Nicky Chopak and Faye Emery visiting the MDU in Bude.

17/02/2026

Many North Cornwall residents have been frustrated at calling NHS 111 for an emergency dentist. The ICB (the NHS in Cornwall) have launched another number for emergency/urgent dental treatment.

If you need urgent or emergency dental treatment and you don’t have an NHS dentist - call this new dedicated number 0333 405 0290
Keep (hopefully you won’t need it) and share with family and friends within Cornwall.

09/02/2026

Cllr Rosie Moore, Wadebridge East & St Minver has raised the crisis in NHS Dentistry at Cornwall Council. She has called the Council & various NHS bodies to work in partnership to find innovative ways to get more NHS dental appointments. One scheme Cllr Moore wants investigated is a community initiative in Wadebridge.
The Director of Public Health will be reporting back to the Council Cabinet.