The investigation found that:
- 8 in 10 NHS practices are not taking on children and young people as new patients.
- One in 10 local authorities did not have any practices taking on under-16s for NHS treatment, despite children in full-time education being entitled to completely free care on the health service.
- »Ê¼Ò»ªÈË 200 practices said they would take on a child under the NHS only if a parent signed up as a private patient.
- 9 in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK are not accepting new adult patients for treatment.
- In a third of the UK's more than 200 council areas, no dentists are taking on adult NHS patients.
In response to the investigation, Dr Camilla Kingdon said:
Access to dental care is essential for every child. There should be no caveats for children’s on whether a child can see an NHS dentist. It is unacceptable that parents are being forced to pay for private services for dentistry for their child. This is creating a two-tier oral health system where those from lower income families are forced to remain on waiting lists, or worse, go without dental check-ups and procedures entirely.
We already know that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are disproportionately more likely to be admitted to hospital to have teeth extracted due to tooth decay. This is both unjust and entirely avoidable.
Children should have timely access to preventative dental health checks but also to services if tooth decay has developed. The UK Government should commission a review into the factors affecting access to primary, secondary, and emergency dental care, with a view to addressing inequalities in England.
At the same time, in order to address this unmet demand, we are asking the Government to keep children, young people, their families, and their paediatric professionals at the heart of workforce policy, and to publish the NHS workforce plan without further delay.