Dental kits which allow people to carry out their own fillings and repair caps and crowns at home are on the rise as patients say they ca n't afford a visit to the dentist . The kits , which can cost as little as £5 or even be bought in pound shops , are intended to provide a temporary solution for lost fillings or broken caps and crowns . However , more and more people are said to be buying the kits to carry out their own dental work as the price of receiving filling by a NHS dentist in England is as much as £52 . More and more people suffering from dental problems are turning to DIY dentistry kits due to the price of NHS dental treatment ( picture posed by model ) According to the Guardian , one of the biggest sellers of first aid dental kits is DenTek , who sell around 250,000 products a year , although there is no research on how they are used . Among the items they sell are a temporary filling material as well as cap and crown cement . And although Department for Health figures show that more people than ever are receiving dental treatment on the NHS , experts are pointing to anecdotal evidence , which suggests that DIY dentistry is on the rise . John Wildman , a professor of health economics at Newcastle University told the newspaper : 'People at the lower end of the distribution curve - on big housing estates in the north-east , for instance - are effectively completely unreported . One of the DenTrek kits that can be bought to provide a temporary filling or repair a cap . 'They do n't take part in surveys and they do n't go to GP surgeries . Which is why you have a situation where people in the north-east have gaps in their teeth and are resorting to DIY dentistry . ' Meanwhile others have pointed to the fact that in certain parts of England registering with an NHS dentist can be difficult due to huge waiting lists . An investigation last year found that some people were being forced to register with surgeries up to 40 miles from their home as nearby practices were refusing to take-on new patients . It also found that some NHS dental surgeries can have waiting lists of up to two years . The rise of the DIY kits come as British Dental Health Foundation revealed last year that one in five people admitted they would carry out DIY dentistry , including pulling out their own teeth , because they ca n't afford to go to the dentist . Their survey found that 17 per cent of people would remove their own tooth and that almost 80 per cent of those asked would leave a problem with their teeth until they could afford a dental appointment . The foundation also warned about 'senseless ' examples of people pulling out the wrong tooth and ending up with infections after resorting to using doorknobs and string to yank out painful and infected teeth . Dr Nigel Carter , chief executive of the British Dental Health Foundation , said : 'DIY dentistry is both dangerous and unnecessary . There are too many senseless examples of people either pulling out the wrong tooth or ending up with an infection . 'It is all too easy to make the problem worse , which could result in more invasive and expensive treatment . '
Kits are intended to be a temporary solution to broken fillings and crowns . They can be bought in supermarkets for around £5 or even pound shops . Products are on the rise as people say they ca n't afford dental treatment . Study reveals that 20 per cent of people would carry out DIY dentistry .