Local Dental Crisis: Half of Population Without NHS Dentist

10.26.58am UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 24th Feb 2004

NHS dental care in England is in crisis as new official figures show that over three in five adults and two in five children are not registered with an NHS dentist. The trends are echoed locally causing concern over the provision of dental services in Brighton & Hove.

With so many people going unregistered, the Liberal Democrats have called for the Government to 'get a grip' on the crisis.

The figures show no progress in improving the situation since 1999. The percentage of children registered has gone down since then.

Locally, official figures from the Surrey and Sussex Strategic Health Authority area show that:

· 6 out of 10 adults locally are not registered

· Almost 2 out of 5 children locally are not registered

· The number registering over the last four years has fallen

Lib Dem City Council Group Leader, Councillor Paul Elgood said:

"The Government is sitting idly by whilst NHS dental care becomes harder to find."

"With so few dentists accepting NHS patients it is little wonder that the levels of people registering with the NHS are so low. As NHS dental cover declines so too is dental health. We seem to be going backwards not forward in this."

"The Government must get to grips with the crisis in dental care. Every patient deserves to be able to register with a local NHS dentist not have to journey miles and miles in search of service."