Health minister Ann Keen was forced to cancel two public engagements last week due to problems with her teeth.
The MP for Brentford & Isleworth was scheduled to work at the Cancer Research UK shop in Chiswick, west London, as part of a ‘volunteers’ week.
However, she failed to make the appointment following a dental operation.
The health minister was also planning to meet with a local pressure group who are campaigning to improve toilet facilities for severely disabled people.
A spokesman for the Brentford and Isleworth Labour MP said: ‘Ann was very disappointed to have had to cancel her engagements due to illness and she gave her apologies in advance accordingly.
‘It’s extremely rare for Ann to be off work due to illness, as she usually works from dusk till dawn in Brentford, Isleworth and Westminster, but these things do tend to sometimes happen to everyone.’
Recently, the minister was calling on primary care trusts to ‘take action’ against dentists who pressurise NHS patients into paying for private treatment.
