Three-year wait for Essex girl, 8, to have tooth removed

Ella Mann needs to be placed under general anaesthetic for the operation to remove her teeth

An eight-year-old girl waiting three years to have three teeth removed has been left in "agony".

Ella Mann, from Dovercourt in Essex, first went to the dentist with an issue with a baby tooth in December 2019.

She was given a temporary filling and told it needed to be removed but has still not had the NHS procedure.

Two more of her baby teeth now need to be removed and Ella's mum, Stacy Welch, said the pain "keeps her up at night".

There are 1.6 dentists for every 10,000 people in Tendring, compared with two dentists for every 10,000 in the neighbouring Colchester district.

The parents of Ella Mann (bottom left, pictured with her sister 10-year-old Olivia) said she is agony from her baby teeth which need to be removed

Ms Welch, 42, said Ella was taken to the dentist with "really bad toothache" when she was five and referred to have the tooth removed.

But she said it has been "very long drawn out process" and despite trips to the dentist "every three months" Ella is yet to have the tooth, or the other other two baby teeth, taken out.

The youngster has now been placed on an NHS waiting list for the tooth extraction.

Ms Welch said Ella "can't brush her teeth properly" and the pain "keeps her up at night".

She also has had to have time off school for the dental appointments and because of the pain.

Ella, who has been on the waiting list for more than a third of her lifetime, will now have to to be placed under general anaesthetic for an operation to remove the teeth.

Ella's dad Charlie Mann, 54, said his daughter was sometimes in "agony".

"I don't like seeing anyone crying, let alone my own kids, and can't do anything about it," he said.

• 'Some six-year-olds have never seen a toothbrush'

• Full extent of NHS dentistry shortage revealed

• Patients in pain amid struggle to find dental care

The Department of Health and Social Care said it was investing more than £3bn a year into dentistry and it would soon be announcing further measures to improve access to dentists.

Healthwatch England last year warned of people struggling to get dental treatment as increasing practices closed to new patients.

A BBC investigation identified cases of people driving hundreds of miles in search of treatment and pulling out their own teeth without anaesthesia.