Quarter of people in North East and Yorkshire unable to access dentistry

Many people have had to wait for years for check-ups.
In conversations with the government, the BDA said it is discussing the role the dentistry contract is playing in the "crisis" Credit: ITV News

Analysis shows one in four adults in the North East and Yorkshire are unable to access dental care, as the professional body for dentistry says services have "ceased to exist" for millions.

Official data shows 1.7 million people have unmet dentistry needs across the region, including 820,000 adults who have tried and failed to secure an appointment in the last two years.

The figures have been analysed by the British Dental Association (BDA) after the recently published GP Survey by Ipsos.

The analysis found that nationally, around 1.3 million people have an 'unmet need' for NHS dentistry.

Other issues raised in the professional body's analysis of the data include:

  • An estimated 590,000 adults have given up trying to make appointments with a dentist as they did not believe they could secure care.

  • 130,000 people have been "pushed away" from dental care due to the cost of it.

  • 120,000 people are currently on dental waiting lists.

Among the issues raised in the analysis was the cost of dental care. Credit: PA

The Chair of the BDA's general dentist practice committee said: "NHS dentistry has effectively ceased to exist for millions across this country.

"A new government has inherited old problems, but luckily hasn't followed in its predecessor's footsteps by pretending this crisis has been solved.

"These numbers are stark reminder we need urgency and ambition to save this service."

The BDA met with new the new Health Secretary Wes Streeting earlier this month.

They said in a statement they were "encouraged by the new government's policy to view the NHS as 'broken'."

13 million people have an 'unmet need' for NHS dentistry

In conversations with the government, the BDA said it is discussing the role the dentistry contract is playing in the "crisis".

The contract for dental services has been blamed for a number of problems in dentistry, including an exodus of NHS dentists and so-called dental deserts, where patients struggle to find NHS care close to where they live.

During the General Election campaign, Labour pledged to create 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments a year as well as recruiting new dentists to under-served areas.

The party also said it would introduce supervised toothbrushing for three to five-year-olds.

In response, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “It is unacceptable that so many people struggle to simply get a dental appointment, and these figures lay bare the scale of the situation. There are large parts of the country where NHS dentistry barely exists anymore.

“We will rebuild NHS dentistry, starting with an extra 700,000 emergency dentistry appointments. We will also reform the dental contract to encourage more dentists to offer NHS services to patients.

“Prevention is better than cure, so we will also introduce supervised tooth brushing for three to five-year-olds. These changes are fundamental to us building an NHS that is fit for the future.”

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