If proof were needed about the crisis in dentistry in Oxfordshire, single mother Rebecca McArthur-Sully provides it.

In excruciating pain, she called more than 30 surgeries to find an NHS dentist.

All told her they no longer treated NHS patients, even though she was on benefits with a five-month-old baby.

Her doctor warned her that she could have overdosed on tablets which she had taken to try to ease the pain.

Eventually, she received emergency treatment. Still in pain, she was given a further appointment on January 30. Now, after she protested, it has been brought forward to December 19.

It is astonishing that she should have to wait so long, and that staff at none of the 30 dentists thought to advise her what to do.

Oxfordshire County Council has already decided to hold an inquiry into the state of dentistry. It should proceed with all speed.

The Government and the NHS, too, need to think deeply about what is happening. They have been complacent for too long.

Dentists are increasingly working privately because they say the money they receive from the NHS is insufficient to cover their costs. Meanwhile, the public suffers. What an appalling commentary on our public services.