23 January 2024 , 20:38
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The cost of hospitals removing children’s rotten teeth has doubled amid a collapse in access to NHS dentistry in the past five years.
NHS hospitals spent £81million on child extractions in 2021/22, the latest government figures show. Around £50million was spent as a result of tooth decay alone. The rise from £36million in 2016/17 comes as 40% of children are no longer able to access regular NHS dental check-ups. Oral health surveys for England over a similar period show around 23% of five-year-olds have untreated tooth decay. Rates were highest in Yorkshire and the North West.
Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting said: “Across the NHS, we’re paying more but getting less. Instead of supporting Labour’s plans to prevent tooth decay, the Conservatives choose to waste taxpayers’ money and put children through unnecessary misery.”
Tooth decay is the most common reason six-year-olds in England go into hospital. The Government said the hiked hospital costs are likely due to dentists closing in the pandemic, and increased costs in hospitals. The cash could have paid for another 2,000 nurses on a salary of around £37,000. The Mirror’s Dentists for All campaign calls for the rescue of the nation’s oral health.
Tory ministers were grilled in the House of Commons yesterday when they would come up with a long-promised plan to turn around NHS dentistry. Health Minister Andrea Leadsom claimed a big package of change is coming for NHS dentistry but again refused to say when. A “recovery plan” pledged last Spring is undelivered. She told MPs: “Since the pandemic we have not seen the recovery of dentistry that we would have liked to have seen.”
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Labour has vowed to increase investment and bring in supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds in primary school breakfast club.
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: “We want every adult and child who needs an NHS dentist to get one regardless of where in England they live. We have already taken steps to improve access and incentivise practices to deliver more NHS dental care."