I had a job commuting 3.5 hours per day, being the first job I got a few weeks from missing rent. During this time to attend the dentist after at 9am or later would require taking at least 5 hour off of work (1.5 hour journey to work, 30 minute to dentist as you can't be late and need a buffer, 1 hour appointment=3 hours minimum. Add 2 hour journey from work to home city). You don't want to get into your employer's bad books for taking so much time off.
Of course any big employer is going to allow time off for a dentist appointment. But not for the commuting, so you'll need to take 3 or 4 hours holiday.
During that year I went from attending the dentist 2x per year for 4 years, to not attending for a year. So when I chipped a tooth in 2020 and called in, I was told I'd been removed from the register. Years later, it's very hard to find a dentist (at least the 5 I've called don't have places). 111 aren't so useful – half the time for tooth pain they say to get an appointment within 7 days, half the time they say within a day – and then tell you to either call dentists as I already have, or try to book you an emergency appointment 15+ miles away after you tell them you don't drive. Dentists themselves have no places and say to ring in April, then shift it to May or simply don't have any.
I rang my old dentist today to ask if I can go on the list. I did say not everyone has a job close to home and you discriminate against people who have to work far away and are a lower socio-economic class, to which they replied "I think that's your opinion". I mean, it's quite obviously true it discriminates against people who have to work far away, in the same way that indirect racial or gender discrimination is a thing. Is it covered by any law? No. But that doesn't prove it's not discriminatory.
Lastly I asked well what should someone do if they work far from where they live. To which she replied "I don't know…maybe ring on the day". Aren't they supposed to be the experts of dental admin? Why would I call on the day and tell my employer I have an appointment on the same day? That would probably get you fired.
You've got people who voluntarily throw their health away with cigarettes and food (ie people with lots of money to waste on these frivolities) getting NHS treatments, people who put more responsibility into their health are shafted.