Mum mortified as Covid delay sees daughter’s dentist bill come to ‘killer £680’

A mum was left “mortified” at the £680 cost of her daughter’s dental treatment which has “absolutely killed her”.

Kelly Morris, 33, blasted the “p*** take” saying that she couldn’t get her 11-year-old daughter an appointment for 15 months due to the pandemic.

She told the Liverpool Echo that she worries paying it back will cut into her rent payments and her girl was being bullied over her tooth.

The mum of two said that her daughter chipped her tooth at the start of the pandemic which was left untreated and had started to go a “funny colour”.

Kelly, from Rock Ferry, Wirral, said that while the dental issue wasn’t causing her any pain, she was getting bullied because of the discolouration of the tooth.

Dentists have not been accepting non-emergency appointments due to the pandemic.

Kelly said: “For 15 months I rang up every dentist on the Wirral weekly.

“They said they’re not taking on NHS patients and they said because it’s not causing her any pain it’s not really an emergency.

“It’s horrible because she is going to high school and she was getting bullied because of it.

“I found voice notes on her phone of kids bullying her because of it, it matters to her now and it was bothering her.”

Kelly said she was left with no choice but to go private and was “angry” to hear that she could get an appointment straight away when she would be paying.

She said: “I know the services are stretched. I’ve worked through it in a care home but after about 15 months I asked them for a private appointment and they gave me one for two hours.

“That’s a p*** take, I was so angry. After all that time they had an appointment available after all.”

Kelly said because it was left for months her tooth is now in a worse condition than it would have been in if she was seen by a dentist much earlier.

And at the appointment it was discovered her daughter needed four fillings and two teeth removed also which cost a total of £688.

She added: “Her teeth are in really bad condition now because of the wait. I was mortified when I saw the cost.

“They said they could try and change it over to the NHS but they weren’t able to do so.

“Now I’m on a payment plan and I’m literally using my rent payments to pay it back.”

Kelly thinks she will now need to pick up more work shifts to cover the cost of the treatment, adding: “The costs are just worrying me, it’s a killer.

“I can work extra shifts to pay it off but with me only working nights it’s really hard.

“The cost of it all has absolutely killed me.”

Kelly’s mum Carol, 61, said she just “can’t believe” that an 11-year-old’s dentist appointment should be paid for.