Thousands More Get Access to Dentists
Twenty-Thousand more people will have access to an NHS dentist in Stoke-on-Trent after the expansion of a surgery and the building of two others.
They will be in the Stoke and Trent Vale area as it is these communities that have the greatest need for dental services.
Eight new dentists are set to work from the two 9,000-patient surgeries which should be open in May.
News of the two surgeries comes as Shelton Dental Centre is recruiting up to 2,000 more NHS patients due to expansion.
Latest figures show only 57% of Stoke-on-Trent’s population had been to a dentist in the city within the past two years.
As well as building new practices, NHS Stoke-on-Trent, which will be used for the £1.3 million contracts, will need to ensure their practices are used.
North Staffordshire dental public health consultant, Kate Taylor-Weetman, said: “Our target is to ensure everyone in the city gets access to NHS dentistry by March 2011.
“We have identified the areas of the city where people have the least access to a dentist.
“We aim to bring the highest quality services to places with the highest need.”
Dental leaders today hoped the investment would deal with health inequalities in the city.
Clare Banks, secretary of the 120-stong North Staffordshire Local Dental Committee (LDC), said: “National bodies will want to take on this work but we hope existing local dentists are also given a break.”
Despite the improvements, the LDC warned that some patients were turning up at A&E and the doctor with toothache.
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