Borough's Disappearing NHS Dentists

12.17.47pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 15th Nov 2005

The latest NHS figures suggest that the borough has the smallest share of the population covered by NHS dentists (26%) of any borough in London except Kensington & Chelsea (19%). One of the highest in London is Hounslow (58%), Kingston has 34%. These figures confirm what many residents have discovered from painful experience, that it is very difficult to get dentistry done on an NHS basis.

Vincent Cable MP said that: "These figures tell a powerful story: that dental services have disappeared from the NHS for over two thirds of the population. It is likely that some of the local figure is explained by the fact that some of our more affluent population prefer private practice in any event. But I know that there are many people who are paying large bills which they can ill afford. I suspect that many people deal with the problem by simply avoiding dentistry until they have serious pain, which is not good either. The Government has woken up to the problem too late; only now are more dentists being trained; and its dentist contract had the effect of discouraging existing dentists from working in the NHS."