New figures published today show that fewer people are seeing an NHS dentist than before the new dental contract came into force in 2006.

The data, released by the NHS Information Centre, will intensify pressure on the Government over the dental contract, which has been condemned as a failure by the British Dental Association and the opposition parties.

The figures also show a rise of 655 in the number of dentists working in the NHS in the past year, however, and increases in the dental services actually delivered.

Barry Cockroft, the Chief Dental Officer, told The Times that, the situation in NHS dentistry was improving, in spite of the access figures. “We are turning things round, but it will take a long time to improve the access figure” Mr Cockroft admitted.

“The good news is that there are a lot of new dentists coming in, and when primary care trusts ask for tenders for new services, dentists are falling over themselves to bid for them.

“When Cornwall PCT went to tender for four new dental practices, they got more than 20 applicants for each one. There is no shortage of people coming forward.

“We have turned the corner. All the data looking forward is positive.”

Others may interpret today’s figures differently, but Mr Cockroft argued that the access figures were still feeling the effects of the loss of 1,000 dentists who opted out of providing NHS services when the new contract came in in 2006. That represented about a million treatments a year.

Some of these dentists left the NHS because they were basically private dentists who provided NHS services to the children of their private patients. For each child registered, they collected £50 a year, often for doing little or nothing, Mr Cockroft said. “They were doing very well under the old contract”.

The new contract discouraged “child-only” NHS contracts, so that the only way these dentists could make up their income was to take on adults as NHS patients. “As they already had a lot of private adult patients whom they thought wouldn’t like this, they opted out of the NHS altogether” he said.

The NHS has yet to make up the shortfall, but the first graduates from two new dental schools will enter practice soon, and the two schools will produce 170 new dentists a year.

Mr Cockroft described as “nonsense” claims made over the weekend that thousands of children were starting school with rotten teeth because their parents could not find NHS dentists.

“The effects of dentistry on the oral health of five year-olds is minimal” he said. “The number of decayed, missing or filled teeth in five year-olds hasn’t changed since 1983.

“It’s entirely a matter of how their parents bring them up. International comparisons show that the UK does extremely well in dental health among children, compared with comparable countries. That’s the result of fluoride toothpaste, not access to dentists.”

He also contested claims that people find it impossible to get an NHS dentist. Many areas, including London, were “dripping” with NHS dentists, he said.

“If you ring round practices, you may hit on a few that are too busy to help you” he said. “But if you ring the local primary care trust, they will have a helpline that will direct you to a dental practice that will take you on.

“The perception is that you can’t get an NHS dentist. But it isn’t true. This perception is preventing many people from even trying. If they have the slightest difficulty, they should ring their PCT.”

Mr Cockroft also contested claims that private dentistry was now larger than NHS dentistry in the UK. “If you ask people, they will say that about 80 per cent of dentistry is now private and only 20 per cent NHS” he said.

“That simply isn’t true. If you look at spending, 50 per cent is NHS, 25 per cent cosmetic dentistry that is outside the NHS, and 25 per cent private.

“But if you look at numbers, you find that there are 27 million NHS patients, and 6.7 million private ones. The reason that spending on private dentistry is high is because they charge up to ten times as much.

“In fact, 75-80 per cent of dentistry in the UK is still in the NHS"

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