Urgent action needed as millions miss out on NHS dentistry

The NHS Dental Statistics for England biannual report shows 15.8 million adults – a little over a third (35.5 per cent) of the total population – were seen by an NHS dentist in the 24 months to up to December 31, 2021. That is a fall of nearly four million adults in the previous year's report, and a drop of six million on 2019-20 figures, the last full year without major impact from the pandemic.

Children, who are reported on the basis of annual attendance, saw a modest recovery, with 5.1 million (or 42.5 per cent) seen in the past 12 months, compared to 3.6 million (29.8 per cent of total) in 2020-21 data which covered the first wave of the pandemic. It is still however far south of numbers seen in the last equivalent report before the pandemic – seven million or 58.4 per cent of the child population.