Mike looked after his teeth growing up – brushing twice a day and attending the dentist for check-ups on a regular basis through to his late twenties.

“I was a smoker,” he concedes, “so would also have a scale and a clean.”

Over time, there were also a couple of fillings, he lost two teeth, and he underwent a course of specialist treatment for gum disease.

The 65-year-old from Irvine in North Ayrshire - who did not want his full name included - said: “The problem came in my late 50s – because I was working away, my visits to the dentist decreased.

"Then, after moving home I lost my NHS registration and I was not able to register where I’d moved.

"My oral health began to deteriorate just prior to the pandemic. I started to have regular gum bleeds, especially after cleaning my teeth.”

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The problem was not serious enough for Mike to feel the need to visit one of the urgent dental care centres established in Scotland during lockdown.

Instead, he took painkillers and applied pain-relief gel to his gums.

But since lockdown was lifted, he has still not been able to register with an NHS dentist and cannot afford to go private.

“I found my teeth becoming loose,” he said.

“Still with no access to a dentist, it resulted in me physically pushing on the teeth to loosen them further – which finally enabled me to remove them, with a slight pull.

"In some cases, there was quite a lot of blood. I did this with three teeth.

"A fourth tooth was done in two stages – first it snapped in half, then three months later I was able to remove the upper part from the gum.”

Mike was one of those surveyed recently by Canada Life, the insurance and financial services company.

Its research, published in April, found that a fifth (18%) of UK adults – equivalent to 9.4 million people – have performed a dental procedure on themselves.

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Nearly half (48%) of UK adults say they have been put off going to the dentist.

When asked why, 13% say they cannot afford it and 12% are afraid or have a phobia of the dentist. One in ten (10%) cannot get registered at an NHS dentist.

Overall, 18% of UK adults are not currently registered at a dentist.

A further 12% have been removed from the NHS list in the last year.

The Herald: More than one in 10 adults said they had been de-registered by their NHS dentist in the past yearMore than one in 10 adults said they had been de-registered by their NHS dentist in the past year (Image: PA)

Now retired, Mike’s career included work on developing a strategy to retain, develop and reward staff.

He said: “The adage was ‘we need the right people in the right place at the right time’.

“The key issue is that we have too many back-office administration staff and not enough dental care professionals – an accountant has never repaired my teeth, but a dentist has.

“In Scotland we have eight area health boards, all with a highly paid CEO. That is too many for a country this size.

"We need to utilise the options available and that is not about privatisation of the service but to use some of their capacity as a service provider.”

Jo Turner, of Canada Life, said: “Dentistry on the NHS is becoming less available and consequently, some people find themselves being removed from patient lists and therefore seeking more expensive private treatment.

"It’s very worrying that some feel there is no alternative than to perform DIY dentistry.”