Dental Services

Dr. Starkey
To ask the Secretary of State for Health what proportion of (a) adults and (b) children are registered for NHS dentistry in (i) Milton Keynes, (ii) the south east and (c) England.

Ms Rosie Winterton
Since April 2006, patients no longer have to be registered with a dental practice to receive national health service care and treatment.

The closest equivalent measure to registration is the numbers of patients receiving NHS primary dental services (patients seen) in a given area over a 24-month period, expressed as a percentage of the estimated population for that area. Numbers and proportions of adult and child patients seen in the 24-month periods ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2006 in England, NHS south central and Milton Keynes Primary Care Trust, are available in Section F2 of Annex 3 of the NHS Dental Statistics for England Q3: 31 December 2006 report. Copies are available in the Library and at

www.ic.nhs.uk/statistics-and-data-collections/primary-care/dentistry/nhs-dental-statistics-for-england-q3:-31-december-2006.

Data for the 24-month period ending March 2007 will be published on 19 June 2007.