According to recent figures, as many as 40% of British children no longer receive regular dental check-ups via the NHS.
The data shows that there were 116 extractions every day, with the aforementioned 40% of children no longer receiving regular check-ups, and 104,133 children going to hospital with rotten teeth in the past five years. A dental chief has blamed government cuts for the sharp decline in access to dental care.
British Dental Association’s Eddie Crouch stated:
“These children are paying the price for this government’s indifference to dentistry. Tooth decay, a preventable disease, remains the number one reason for hospital admissions in children. This is the result of political choices.”
The figures regarding hospital admissions for tooth decay were revealed after a Freedom of Information request made by the Liberal Democrats, though only roughly half of the country’s NHS trusts responded. This means that the figure could be much higher than reported.
On top of this, it was revealed that roughly 52% of adults had missed their dental check-ups in the two prior years. meanwhile, the 3bn budget for NHS dentistry has remained the same figure for over a decade.
A BBC investigation recently revealed that 90% of NHS dentists are not accepting new adult patients, with many practices feeling forced to move into private dental care due to the gulf in revenue between the two different services.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman stated:
“We want every adult and child to get an NHS dental appointments and have taken steps to improve access and incentivise practices to deliver more NHS care.”
My two penneth
Reverse quoting the statistic about NHS dentists taking on new adult patients means that only 10% of practices are doing so, which is shocking in and of itself.
As for the 40% of children who don’t have access to regular check-ups, this is hardly a surprise when looking back on an old article I commented on regarding the mass exodus of dental practices into private work.
I don’t know what the course of action for this needs to be, other than an extreme boost in funding, staffing and infrastructure into NHS dental health care. Anything less than this will simply see the situation escalate further with the passage of time.