The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry (BSPD), the national Society dedicated to improving the oral health of children and young people, responded to the new dental data from NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA). The Society acknowledged that it is good to see improvements overall but that there is still much work to be done to ensure that the most vulnerable children, and in particular those who live in areas with the least access to NHS dental care, get the care and treatment they need.
Dr Oosh Devalia OBE, BSPD President, said:
“The figures are encouraging in places. Nearly 13 million courses of treatment were delivered to children last year, a rise of 7%, and 60% of children in England were seen by an NHS dentist. That is a credit to teams working under real pressure. However, we can also see from the new statistics how geographically uneven the delivery of dentistry is.
“Across all patients, urgent treatment has risen by more than 8%. This reverses three years of decline, and in the most deprived communities it now accounts for 14% of all courses of treatment compared with 8% in the least deprived. Too many people, children among them, are reaching a dentist when in pain rather than in good time. We need a prevention approach to be properly funded.
“The workforce data tells the same story. Some areas have more than twice as many NHS dentists per head as others, and the proportion of children seen ranges from 67% in the best served areas to 41% in the least. A child’s chance of seeing a dentist should not be based on a postcode lottery. BSPD will keep pressing for a contract that works for children and is directed to the communities who need it most.”
