Cornwall Dentistry Summit

The Cornwall Dentistry Summit, convened by Cllr Leigh Frost Leader of Cornwall Council, was held on 17 July 2026.

The recording of the Summit is available on

Facebook: Cornwall Dentistry Summit recording

The Cornwall Dentistry Summit brought together, for an open conversation, the authorities, agencies and organisations involved in dentistry in Cornwall, with the ability to identify and help deliver solutions to the ongoing issues Cornwall is dealing with.

Cllr Leigh Frost, Leader of Cornwall Council, convened the Summit.
Leigh said: "This is such an important subject for us to tackle. Lack of access to NHS dentistry is a longstanding problem in Cornwall, and something needs to change, but we also need to be honest about the nature of the problem. This is a complicated issue, and it is bigger than Cornwall. It will not be solved by us pretending there is a quick fix. But we’re not powerless either, we can bring the right people together, have an open conversation about the scale of the challenge, and focus on finding practical solutions that will benefit our residents."

Summit intentions
The Summit looked at prevention-first approaches, exploring what more can be done through pilots here in Cornwall for things like brushing schemes and better oral health advice. This summit will give Cornwall a stronger platform from which to continue lobbying government to improve the state of dentistry in Cornwall.

The Summit aimed to:

• Provide a clear, evidence-based account of the current position on dental access in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly
• Build a shared understanding across partners, members and the public of the scale of the challenge and the key constraints
• Clarify what is realistically deliverable locally, versus what sits at regional or national level
• Support a number of practical, system-wide commitments and next steps for all the partners.

The expectation is that the Cornwall Dentistry Summit will result in collective and tangible actions from the organisations involved in the solutions. A round table discussion took place after the Summit, chaired by Cllr Jim McKenna, Co-Chair of the Committee in Common of the Cornwall Health and Wellbeing Board and CIOS Integrated Care Board. The round table discussion continued the Summit live session with the Panel, dentistry experts and stakeholders meeting to discuss and agree a number of collective and tangible actions from the organisations involved in the solutions.

Chair / MC
The Cornwall Dentistry Summit live Q&As was chaired by Julie Skentelbery, from BBC Radio Cornwall. To ensure the concerns of residents were being heard Julie put questions to the Panel of seven, that represented the main themes raised by residents who submitted their question via Let's talk Cornwall. Two residents also attended the Summit to ask their question in person.

Panel

Our seven panellists were:

• Eddie Crouch, Chair of the National British Dental Association (BDA) Board (PEC)
• Jasem Greval, CEO of Smile:Together Dental CIC
• Matt Jerreat, NHS England SW Regional Chief Dental Officer (CDO) and Chair of SW Local Dental Network
• Kirsty Lewis, Director of Primary Care with NHS Devon and CIOS Cluster ICB
• Cllr Thalia Marrington, Lead Member for Community Safety and Public Health with Cornwall Council
• Jenna Murgatroyd, Chair of the NHS CIOS Local Dental Committee (LDC)
• Rob Witton, Deputy Head of Peninsula Dental School.

Background to the Summit
We are all well aware of the scale of the challenges people face in Cornwall around access to NHS dentistry provision: with people having to travel long distances, sometimes outside Cornwall, for dental appointments; parents worrying about their children; and older people struggling to get the dental care they need.

Cornwall Council's Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee also considered a report from Cornwall Healthwatch in October 2025. You can read more about the report on the Councils' website: Agenda for HASCOSC, 8 October 2025 - Cornwall Healthwatch: The Dental Crisis in Cornwall, your questions answered See item HASC/OSC13

Cornwall Council passed a motion in April 2026 'Cornwall Dentistry' on the current provision of dentistry for children in Cornwall. You can read more about the Motion on the Council's website: Agenda for Cornwall Council - Tuesday, 21 April, 2026, 10.30 am - Cornwall Council See item CC/154.

Questions for the Panel
Questions for the Panel closed at 9am on 29 June.
Thank you to everyone who submitted a question or comment.

Please note the Panel weren't able to answer or address every question during the Summit, but feedback from the Summit will inform the next steps and we will publish as many questions and answers as we can after the Summit.