More seen by NHS dentists but total is below pre-reform level

Mike Waites Health correspondent

NUMBERS of patients seeing an NHS dentist are at their highest level since controversial new dental contracts were created, new figures reveal. But the proportion of people seeing an NHS dentist remains below the figure in March 2006 when the Government reforms came in.

Former Prime Minister Tony Blair famously pledged everyone who wanted a NHS dentist would get one by 2001 but the promise is not now expected to be fulfilled until March next year – a full decade later.

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In Yorkshire, more than three million people were treated by an NHS dentist in the two years to December, more than 75,000 more than when the contract was introduced, but the figures mask significant variations.

In North Yorkshire, 42,000 fewer adults and children received NHS care in the two years to December than over the same period prior to March 2006. Fewer people are also being treated in North Lincolnshire, Leeds and the East Riding, where only 42 per cent of people are accessing NHS care.

The biggest improvements in coverage have come in Rotherham, where an extra 20,000 people are covered by a NHS dentist (up 15 per cent), and North East Lincolnshire, where 12,000 more patients (14 per cent) are seeing a dentist. Overall in England, 28.2 million patients saw an NHS dentist in the two years prior to December – up 18,000 on the number in the two years to March 2006. The proportion of people being treated fell to 54.7 per cent from 55.8 per cent.

Sheffield dentist Susie Sanderson, chairman of the British Dental Association’s executive board, said: “Challenges remain. There are still people who would like to see an NHS dentist who cannot do so. The Department of Health must also look beyond those who seek access to reach out to those who need dental care but do not ask for it.”

Health minister Ann Keen said: “There are now nearly 1,200 more dentists working in the NHS than two years ago.”