Decay in dentistry warning

LESS than half of adults in England saw an NHS dentist in the past two years.

Figures seen by the British Dental Association also showed that just 59 per cent of children received treatment in the 12 months to February.

The dentists’ trade union said it showed access was “in a bad place pre-pandemic” and since March has “fallen off a cliff”.

Dave Cottam, chairman of the BDA’s general dental practice committee, added: “We should lament how few children and adults made it to an NHS dentist.

“But the real question now is how we can even bring the service back to these levels.

“We have practices struggling, and tens of millions of patients need somewhere to go.

“We need Government to work with us to rebuild capacity.”

Dental practices were closed on March 25 due to the virus and were only allowed to reopen from early June.