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Dentistry

Volume 196: debated on Thursday 17 October 1991

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To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many dentists in 1979 gave treatment under the NHS; and what is the number now.

The information requested is shown in the table.

Number of dentists in England1
General dental servicesHospital dental servicesCommunity dental services2
30 September 197912,1461,1521,995
30 September 199015,4801,2441,577
30 June 199115,448n/an/a
1 The figures shown are the latest available; those for hospital and community dentists represent numbers of staff and not necessarily those giving treatment.
2 In 1989, the role of the Community Dental Services was reviewed. As a result, it is now the practice for the General Dental Services, rather than the Community Dental Services, to provide routine treatment for healthy school children.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list for the six forms of dental treatment most often given as well as dental examinations (a) the charges for such treatment in 1979, (b) the level of the charges if they had been increased in line with inflation since then and (c) the current charges.

These comparisons are not possible because of changes to the structure of the charging system. In 1979 patients paid the full cost up to £5 for routine treatments, with higher costs for others.The current charges for dental examinations as at 1 July 1991 are £3·75, £5·25 and £12, depending on the complexity of the examination.The six most common adult treatments, excluding examinations, are given in the table with the current patient charge as at 1 July 1991:

£
Normal scaling and polishing6·00
One mesio-occlusal or disto-occlusal filling7·95
Composite/Synthetic Resin one filling7·65
Amalgam one surface4·05
Two films radiographic examination and report2·55
One mesio-occlusal-distal filling10·50

To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list those areas in England where there is a shortage of dentists giving NHS treatment.

In January 1991, a survey of family health services authorities provided no evidence of areas in England where there is a shortage of dentists giving NHS treatment. We are currently analysing the results of a more recent sample survey of dentists providing NHS treatment.