Number of NHS dental patients drops

The number of people treated by NHS dentists has dropped by more than a million since the Government's high-profile overhaul of services, figures have shown.

Patients are also more likely to have teeth removed or dentures fitted rather than undergo complex work such as fillings and crowns.

The details emerged in the latest statistics released by the NHS Information Centre.

The Government introduced a new contract for NHS dentists in April 2006, insisting it would improve access to treatment. However, the deal was so unpopular that about a tenth of dentists refused to sign it. There has also been criticism that because dentists now receive a flat salary, they no longer have any financial incentive to carry out difficult work such as crowns and bridges.

The latest figures for England show that 27 million people - 53.3% of the population - were seen by an NHS dentist in the two years following the introduction of the contract. That was 1.1m down on the number seen in the two years before the arrangements were put in place.

The number of children treated fell by some 200,000 to 7.6m during the same period - just over two-thirds of the total child population.

The Government's chief dental officer, Dr Barry Cockcroft, said there were 655 more dentists working in the NHS compared with 2006-7, and the system was "on the road to recovery".

"The critics who claimed there would be a mass exodus of NHS dentists under the new contract are being proved wrong."

But shadow health minister Mike Penning insisted the dental contract had been a "complete failure".

"Since Labour introduced its botched, untested new contract, well over a million people - more than the entire population of Birmingham - have lost access to their NHS dentist. Despite Labour's claims, the decline is continuing."

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