A south west London pilot project has been launched, aimed at improving access to NHS children’s dental care in priority areas.
The project comes in response to a national crisis in children’s dental health, which has seen tooth decay become the most common reason for hospital admissions in those aged five to nine. Almost 50,000 tooth extractions took place in UK hospitals last year for young people aged 18 and under at a cost to the NHS of £45.8 million.
It also seeks to address the issue of inequality in dental care, which sees children living in the most deprived communities nearly 3.5 times more likely to have decay than those in more affluent areas.
The project involves engagement work and additional appointments at targeted practices in each of south west London’s six boroughs, with a focus on the Core 20 Plus 5 areas. It is open to children who do not have a regular dentist and have not had a check up in the past two years.
This scheme is great because there are lots of children and families out there who haven’t been able to access NHS dental care, particularly since the Covid pandemic.”
Designated engagement leads in each practice are proactive in identifying children who could benefit from the service – by talking to family hubs, children’s centres, schools and social care services, for example. The scheme is also about ensuring that participating practices are child friendly spaces where children unfamiliar with dental care can feel comfortable and at ease.
In addition, project funding is being used to upskill dentists in the target practices, enabling them to carry out more complex paediatric procedures, such as managing severe decay and trauma to teeth, keeping more children out of hospital.
We hope that this project, alongside others such as like supervised toothbrushing and urgent dental care hubs, will help prevent cases of tooth decay and give more families access to treatment at an early stage.”
Carol Denning-Kemp (pictured above with dentist Dr Ayesha Patel and a young patient) manages Love Teeth dental practice in Cheam, Sutton. Since the launch, she has been promoting the additional appointments through family hubs and schools in priority areas and the practice is now seeing families through the pilot.
“This scheme is great because there are lots of children and families out there who haven’t been able to access NHS dental care, particularly since the Covid pandemic. When we do have new patients, that is when we tend to find more children needing treatment, especially where they haven’t seen the dentist before.
“There’s more and more demand for NHS care – we’re constantly getting enquiries, so it’s great to able to say ‘yes’ and help some families.”
Mark Creelman executive for Merton and Wandsworth boroughs leads on dentistry across south west London. He said: “We know that factors including family income and where you’re born and grow up have impact on oral health, so we’re looking at ways to make access to dental care more equal for children across south west London.
“We hope that this project, alongside others like supervised toothbrushing and urgent dental care hubs, will help prevent cases of tooth decay and give more families access to treatment at an early stage.”
The pilot project will run until September when it, and similar schemes across London, will be evaluated.
Core 20 Plus 5 is an NHS England approach to making healthcare more equal by targeting the 20% most deprived communities along with five key conditions.