To ask the Secretary of State for Health what estimate he has made of (a) the annual cost to the Exchequer of abolishing all charges for dental checks and (b) the number of people who paid a charge for such checks wholly or in part in the last year for which figures are available. (207520)

There is no separate charge for a dental examination. The present three tier system of national health service dental charges sets charges according to the overall content of each course of treatment. The current band one charge of £16.20 applies to any course of treatment that consists of diagnostic and preventative care only, which can include an examination, any necessary x-rays, a scale and polish, and oral health advice. In 2006-07 a total of £147.9 million was collected in dental charges for band one courses of treatment delivered to charge paying patients.

The numbers of NHS courses of treatment delivered to charge payers in England in 2006-07, by treatment band, are available in Table seven of the “NHS Dental Statistics for England 2006-07” report. The report, published by the Information Centre for health and social care on 23 August 2007, is available in the Library and is also available at:

www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/dental0607.

The number of courses of treatment does not equate to the number of people receiving treatment, as some patients will receive more than one course of treatment in a year.