MP says dentistry in the West Country needs 'major overhaul'
New research commissioned by the Lib Dems found tens of thousands of under-18s haven't had a check-up on the NHS in the past year
Last updated 27th Sep 2024
Chippenham's MP tells us dentistry in the West Country needs a 'major overhaul' - just over a month until the Hathaway Dental Practice closes its doors to NHS patients.
New research commissioned by the Lib Dems has revealed tens of thousands of under-18s in Wiltshire alone haven't had a check-up on the Health Service in the past 12 months.
According to House of Commons research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats, 51, 186 children in Wiltshire were not seen by an NHS dentist in the year up to March 2024.
Local Liberal Democrat MP, Sarah Gibson, has demanded an end to ‘dental deserts’ saying that these figures were a ‘damning indictment’ of Conservative party’s legacy of running local health services into the ground. This comes as Hathaway Dentist is due to close its doors to NHS patients from the 1st of November.
"We need to overhaul the system"
Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio, Sarah told us: "We really need to overhaul the dental system as fast as possible before we end up with much more serious issues were peoples failure to be able to get to a dentist has actually led to much more serious things.
"Lack of dental care and dental decay is actually one of the biggest causes of children going into accident and emergency, which is really worrying.
"I know that the Department of Health are taking this really seriously - and they are re-looking at how the dental contracts work.
"One of the biggest issues for the dentists themselves in recruitment is that the ways the NHS treatment is paid for doesn't always coincide with the work that they're doing.
"The best thing you can do for your children is make sure their dental hygiene is as good as possible.
"I see more and more people who quite clearly should be seeing a dentist, but are not, for lots of reasons.
"I just see this as a problem in the making, because further down the line, if we're not preventing, it's more complicated, more expensive, and much more painful for everyone."
The research from the House of Commons Library, estimates the number of children who were not seen by an NHS dentist in the year to March 2024, based on the latest data from the health service. According to the research, a staggering 49.53% of children had not been seen by an NHS dentist in the last 12 months. This is despite the NHS recommending that under-18s see a dentist at least once a year because their teeth can decay faster, compared to two years for adults. Tooth decay is also the leading cause of hospital admissions for children aged 6-10.
The Liberal Democrats are calling for an emergency rescue plan for NHS dentistry, including spending any funding that has gone unspent in recent years to boost the number of appointments as well as the removal of VAT on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste.
Sarah Gibson, added: “I have heard countless stories of desperate parents who cannot find an NHS dentist anywhere in Wiltshire. With Hathaway closing its doors to NHS patients from the 1st of November, the impact is going to be badly felt by families across my constituency. Everyone knows how important it is for children to be able to see a dentist when they need to be in our area, far too often that is proving impossible.
“The Conservative party’s disastrous legacy on the NHS cannot be understated. The new government must make fixing local health services like dentistry a top priority after the Conservatives ran them into the ground."
“The only way we will rescue dentistry in our area is by the government investing in local health services at the Budget and bringing an end to dental deserts so that every child can see a dentist when they need to.”
In an open letter to the Health Secretary last month, she wrote to the Health Secretary - over concerns that more and more locations are stopping offering NHS treatment to all patients.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told us: ““Rebuilding NHS dentistry is a priority for this government.
“We will start with an extra 700,000 urgent dentistry appointments to help those who need it most, and reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.
“Prevention is better than cure, so we will also introduce supervised tooth brushing for three to five-year-olds.”
We have previously approached the dental practice for a comment.
Read more: MP writes to Health Secretary with Chippenham dentist to stop NHS treatment