Speakeasy Panel ‘Who can really afford to go to the dentist?’

Dentistry in England has featured regularly in the news as well as being a key election issue this year. The main area of concern has been the availability of NHS dental services across England, with some areas being described as dental deserts. Unlike much of the NHS, dentistry is one of the areas where most patients are expected to pay towards their treatment, with a few groups exempted such as children, those on some benefits relating to low income and those who are pregnant or have had a baby in the last 12 months. Patient charges have been rising faster than payments that the NHS makes to dental practices, meaning an increasingly large proportion of the cost of the system falls on the patient. The system has also been condemned by dental professionals many of whom feel that they cannot provide the care they want whilst keeping their businesses viable. This has driven many dental teams to providing more private care, in many cases leaving this as the only option for patients to address their oral health.

With the NHS dental service currently being described as ‘broken’ we thought it was a prime opportunity at BSODR24 to bring together our oral and dental researchers, community leaders, dental students and public members to discuss ‘who can really afford to go to the dentist?’

The session was chaired by our Head of Newcastle Dental School, Professor Chris Vernazza, who led an expert panel of Rebecca Harris, Professor of Dental Public Health Liverpool University and ex-Deputy Chief Dental Officer for England; Shiv Pabary, MBE, a local general dentist, Honorary Clinical Lecturer and member of the General Dental Practice Committee, British Dental Association; David Gallagher, Executive Director of the Integrated Care Board; Matthew Harper, recently graduated dentist; and Paul Jones, CEO of Healthwatch North Tyneside.

A speakeasy event is one where we discuss controversial topics in a safe space so, what happens in the speakeasy stays in the speakeasy, but we can cover some of the areas we discussed!

We agreed on the problem of access to care, and that the system could work better for those who are marginalised or have additional needs. We discussed who could actually afford to provide NHS dental care, the saturation of the 111 system and emergency care and what we could fix first. Opinions varied about interventions such as offering free check-ups and ‘golden hellos’ for dental professionals to work in underserved areas, as these had unintended consequences and weren't as simple as they first seemed. There were some promising schemes looking to create dedicated capacity and it would be good to see these evaluated and expanded if effective.

We had lots of great feedback on a fascinating discussion. Involving the public and community groups in our conference was a fantastic way to round up our conference. Let’s hope to continue this conversation.

Written by Dr Luisa Wakeling and Professor Chris Vernazza

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