Plymouth city centre is set to get a facility where aspiring dentists and dental therapists will treat patients in urgent need of dental care.

Peninsula Dental Social Enterprise (PDSE), a subsidiary of the University of Plymouth, has taken a 20-year lease on Plymouth City Council’s former First Stop Shop in New George Street.

Over the coming months, and subject to planning permission, it will be revamped through a £5million project and become home to the new Peninsula Dental Education Practice.

Two floors of the building will be remodelled into treatment and consultation spaces, complete with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities and employing sustainable practices such as digital dentistry.

It will offer appointments and an oral surgery service.

This will enable up to 16 final-year students from the University’s Peninsula Dental School to work alongside specialists and other qualified clinicians to provide urgent care to patients who do not have a regular NHS dentist and have presented with pain, infection and trauma.

The new practice will go some way to filling the huge demand for dental care, with long waiting lists across all NHS providers and a lack of practitioners to meet the demand.We are proud of our record of providing first class clinical experience to our undergraduates in a community setting by treating thousands of patients who otherwise would not receive NHS treatment, but we know there is an urgent need for more dental care services.

This new clinic is the fifth in Devon and Cornwall and will provide the students with hands-on experience that bridges the gap between their training and going into practice.

It could also transform the lives of the extra people they are able to treat, with the real possibility that many of them have been waiting months or even years to see a dentist.

Professor of Community Dentistry and PDSE Chief Executive Professor Robert Witton said:

“PDSE, as the University’s student clinical placement provider, currently operates from four clinics across Devon and Cornwall, with two in Plymouth and one each in Truro and Exeter.

“Within those clinics, more than 430 students on the University’s Dental Surgery and Dental Therapy and Hygiene programmes work alongside experienced staff to hone their skills, and in the past year, they provided well over 35,000 appointments to almost 6,500 patients.

“Those facilities are already running at capacity, with the new practice enabling more students to learn the skills they will need to succeed in their careers.

“It will also provide a fundamentally different teaching experience by expanding clinical teaching in a setting that simulates a real dental practice as opposed to a large teaching facility.

“As well as providing students with the skills and confidence to succeed, a huge part of our focus is on helping them thrive once they graduate.”

Vice-Chancellor Professor Richard Davies said:

“PDSE is a member of the Plymouth Dental Taskforce, which was created in 2023 in response to the local crisis in dentistry.

“The Council-led taskforce is cross-party and includes representatives from local health organisations as well as the city’s three MPs.”