Only a third of adults have seen an NHS dentist in the last 2 years
New figures suggest that only a third of adults in England have seen an NHS dentist in the last two years.
Statistics from the NHS England biannual report show that only 35.1% of adults in England saw an NHS dentist within the two-year period leading up to December 2021. This represents a fall of 4 million from 2020/2021 and 6 million from 2019/2020.
There was a small increase in the proportion of children seeing an NHS dentist, but figures are still well below pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, 42.5% of children (5.1 million) saw an NHS dentist compared to 29.8% of children (3.6 million) in 2020. Before the pandemic hit in 2019/2020, almost 60% of children attended a dental appointment.
News of the steep drop in dental appointments came as the chief dental officer for England, Sara Hurley, confirmed that existing infection control guidelines would not change, despite the remaining measures, including isolation, being scrapped by ministers.
Chair of the British Dental Association, Eddie Crouch, said that every missed dental appointment “translates into bottled up problems and widening health inequality.”
Since 2020 a whole year’s worth of dental appointments has been lost and a recovery will be “impossible” Mr Crouch claims, if ministers “fail to halt the exodus from a demoralised workforce.”
The BDA suggests that NHS dentistry is “at the last chance saloon” and called for “urgent reform” to save services and provide patients with the care they need and deserve.
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