Dental services still recovering from the pandemic in the East Riding
Dental services in the East Riding of Yorkshire are still recovering from the pandemic.
The latest statistics show that activity is still well below pre-pandemic levels, despite a significant increase from 2020/2021. Data from NHS Digital revealed that a total of 142,396 courses of dental treatment were delivered in the region in the 12-month period leading up to March 2022. This represents an increase of over 50% from 2020/2021 but is still 37% lower than before the start of the pandemic.
The figures indicate that only 37% of adults in the East Riding saw an NHS dentist in the two-year period leading to June 2022. This equates to a 5% decrease from the same period in June 2021 and a 12% fall from the 24-month period leading to June 2019. The data shows that 46% of children in the area saw a dentist between July 2021 and June 2022. This is a huge increase from 29% in 2020/2021 but a sharp decrease from 60% in 2018/2019.
Across the country, the number of dental courses completed reached 26.4 million in 2021/2022. This is around 65% of pre-pandemic levels.
Chair of the British Dental Association, Eddie Crouch, described NHS dentistry as a “service on its last legs.”
Research carried out by the BDA and the BBC shows that around 90% of UK dental practices are not taking on new adult NHS patients. In some areas, this figure rises to 98%.
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