Thousands of New NHS Dental Places made Available in Plymouth
Health bosses have confirmed that 12,000 additional NHS dental places will be made available at surgeries in Plymouth to tackle a waiting list and encourage more people to visit their dentist on a regular basis.
There are currently around 1,800 people waiting to register with an NHS dentist in the city, which represents a dramatic decrease from 4,500 last year and 7,500 two years ago. Two new contracts will be taken up this year, creating an additional 7,000 dental places in poorer areas of the north west and south east of the city.
NHS Plymouth is also planning to create more than 5,000 places across the city, thanks to additional funding from the government. The trust received £400,000 after successfully bidding for additional funding. Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley recently confirmed that an extra £28 million would be made available to improve access to dental services across the country and invited trusts to bid for the money.
Rob Witton, a public health dentist working for NHS Plymouth, has urged patients to make use of the services available to them. The waiting list has been very long in recent years, but the trust is working hard to solve this problem and the list is decreasing in size every month.
Recent figures showed that the proportion of people in Plymouth visiting the dentist regularly has fallen from 55 percent to 53 percent. Most people who have stopped attending regular check-ups say that cost is a major issue. However, Mr Witton said that it is important for patients to attend regular check-ups to prevent oral health problems from developing and putting off treatment will increase the risk of complex diseases developing, which are much more costly to treat. Mr Witton also urged patients to find out if they are entitled to free NHS treatment, as there are discounts available.
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