Why is it hard to get an NHS dental appointment?

The Covid pandemic has left dental practices with severe backlogs of patients needing appointments, and dentists are saying they are being forced to take on more private work to survive.

One woman in Suffolk told the BBC it was so difficult to find a dentist that she resorted to removing 11 of her own teeth.

Responding to a question on our Facebook page, external, BBC East health correspondent Nikki Fox explained why it can seem so hard to get a dentist appointment on the NHS but easy if you go private.

She said: "Dentists are businesses and they say that the money they get for NHS contracts means they can't provide the right level of care and make ends meet."