£1m NHS bill for lost dentures

The British Dental Association (BDA) is concerned about the number of false teeth (or dentures) that are lost each year. The dentists’ union estimates that around 9,500 dentures are lost in NHS hospitals in England every year, costing the NHS in the region of £1 million. It is a lot of money – and it is preventable.

The figures were extrapolated from a study that investigated the loss of dentures in hospital trusts in Kent, Surrey and Sussex over a five-year period (2011-16) and the cost of replacing these.

Of the 11 hospital trusts in the three counties that provided data, a total of 695 dentures were lost. Seven of the trusts reported that – between them – the NHS paid out £357,672 to replace these: it works out as an average of £51,096 per trust over 5 years, which amounts to £7,299 per year.