11 million patients failed to get a dental appointment in 2022, data shows
New data suggests that around 11 million people in England failed to get a dental appointment in 2022.
Analysis of the 2022 GP Patient Survey revealed that a quarter of adults in England were unable to see an NHS dentist last year.
The shortage of NHS dental places is a national problem, but some areas are worse affected than others. Areas, including parts of Cumbria, Suffolk, Lincolnshire, Essex and Devon, have been labelled ‘dental deserts.’ In these parts, there are over 10,000 patients per dentist.
The number of dentists working in the NHS fell sharply during the pandemic but has risen in the last year. There are currently almost 24,500 NHS dentists compared to 23,000 in 2012 and around 24,600 in 2019. During the Covid crisis, numbers dropped to 23,600.
The British Dental Association (BDA) claims that up to 11 million people in England are waiting to see an NHS dentist, which represents an increase of 7,000 people from 2019. The GP Patient Survey showed that over 6 million people tried and failed to get an NHS dental appointment in 2022. A further 3.6 million didn’t bother trying because they assumed that they wouldn’t be able to see a dentist. One million patients didn’t see a dentist because they couldn’t afford the cost. An estimated 500,000 people are on a waiting list.
The BDA has called for both the government and opposition MPs to act urgently to invest more in NHS dentistry and protect the system moving forward. People have reached a point where they are extracting their teeth at home or self-medicating for severe pain because they can’t get NHS dental appointments and private dentistry is not accessible to most patients.
For more news click here.
Join this Discussion