NHS ‘telling dentists to avoid treating children’

The NHS cannot afford to treat children and so is putting dentists under pressure not to see them, it has been claimed.

Dental pressure group Challenge alleges that health trusts urge dentists to target adult patients as they must pay for their treatment, the Daily Mail has reported.

Eddie Crouch, a founding member of the organisation, told the publication there are growing inequalities in healthcare across Britain.

The newspaper reports that last year many health trusts ran out of funds, causing dentists to put off treating children until the new financial year began.

Mr Crouch’s comments have been supported by the London Regional Group of Local Dental Committees.

It asserted that children and those adults who qualify for free dental care are the ones most in need of oral hygiene and dental help.

“We know of dentists who have been told that unless they see a higher proportion of paying NHS patients, they will have their contract capacity curtailed,” the group claimed.

Recently, the health secretary Alan Johnson called for public debate on local fluoridation of water supplies, claiming it could help those within areas of poor dental health to avoid tooth decay.