Sharp drop in children seeing NHS dentists

THE number of children attending NHS dental appointments in London has fallen 15 per cent in four years amid claims the service has reached “breaking point”, the Standard can reveal.

Analysis of NHS Digital figures shows there were nearly 160,000 fewer appointments for under-18s in the year up to June 2022 than in the same period in 2017-18.

Children should see an NHS dentist at least once a year, according to guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence.

Dental appointments for children saw a sharp decline in June 2020-21 as a result of the Covid lockdown, the figures showed. Practices were instructed to close and cease routine dental care until June 8, 2020.

There were a total of 989,001 appointments from June 2017-18, falling to just over 580,034 in the year to June 2020. While this recovered slightly to 830,887 in 2021-22, the figure remains below pre-pandemic levels.

The biggest fall in the number of children seeing a dentist was in Lewisham, where it dropped by 23 per cent in four years. Barking and Dagenham and Wandsworth saw declines of 22 per cent and 19 per cent respectively.

The Standard reported last month how under a third of children living in Islington (32.3 per cent) and Kensington and Chelsea (29.6 per cent) had seen an NHS dentist in the past two years — a fall of nearly 20 per cent since 2018 in the latter borough.

Sarah Olney, Liberal Democrat MP for Richmond Park, said the figures showed how the NHS dental system was at “breaking point” and that it was “unacceptable that children are paying the price”.

“While the Government has continually pledged to fix this crisis, Londoners are yet again failing to see action taken to improve public services,” she told the Standard.

“We need to see an end to empty rhetoric from ministers and a clear commitment from the Health Secretary that every child should be able to see an NHS dentist whenever they need it.”

Delays in dental care can leave children vulnerable to tooth decay, which can lead to pain and infection.