Half UK ‘not seen an NHS dentist in 2yrs’

Nearly half of all people in Britain have not seen a dentist on the NHS over the last two years, it has been asserted.

Statistics obtained by the Conservatives have highlighted over the 24 months to September last year, 23.1 million people received no NHS dental care.

This is a decrease of four per cent since before 2006, the opposition stated.

However, there has been an increase in the number of people admitted to hospital for dental treatment, the figures showed.

Shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley said: “We know that there are people out there who are pulling out their own teeth because they can’t find an NHS dentist.”

Earlier this year, charity Citizens Advice warned that millions of adults in England and Wales were unable to visit an NHS dentist, partly because they could not find one to treat them.

It published research which showed that 7.4 million people had not seen an NHS dentist since April 2006, with 4.7 million opting for private treatment and 2.7 million not visiting a dentist at all.