Health bosses in Staffordshire have been warned that a lack of dentists will lead to more people visiting accident and emergency departments to deal with problems with their teeth.
Nationally, around 47% of the population has been to see an NHS dentist in the last two years – down from 55% pre-pandemic.
Health chiefs believe levels will return to normal by the end of the year, but are worried that the number of people accessing NHS dental care is too low.
In Staffordshire there are 168 dental practices – but 12 of these only accept private patients.
However there are concerns that many of the remaining 146 who do accept NHS work are no longer taking on new patients.
Chris Bird, interim chief transformation officer at Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Integrated Care Board (ICB), said:
“There is more work for us to do in terms of understanding which of those dental practices that, on the face of it, have open NHS lists are actually accepting NHS patients.”
Chris Bird
Concerns have also been raised over children not being taken to see the dentist regularly.
County councillor Jill Hood said:
“Wherever you call a dentist, their list is full – be it NHS or private – and I believe there will be a tsunami of children soon that will be coming to the dental practices and there will be no way these children can be seen, which will then put a burden onto A&E because people will start taking children there.”
Cllr Jill Hood, Staffordshire County Council
Mr Bird acknowledged it was a worry, but said there was no easy way of finding more dentists to deal with the issue.
“The average level of tooth decay or poor oral health in children under 12 is worse in Staffordshire than the national average.
“The road to improvement is going to be a very protracted one because a number of the issues we’re seeing in terms of recruitment and retention of dentists, the issues associated with a national contract, they’re not necessarily in the sole control of the ICB to be able to respond to.”
Chris Bird
Mr Bird said the way the payment system is set up doesn’t provide much incentive for dentists to carry out preventative work.
He added that there are problems with a quota system for how work is shared out, meaning dentists won’t automatically receive payment if they go over their allocation.
“There are a number of issues associated with the contract.
“We do understand there will be a major review of the national contract in 2024, but we’ve heard that a few times previously over the lifetime of the contract – for various reasons it’s not manifested itself in any significant change.”
Chris Bird
