NHS Nottinghamshire County is reminding parents that under 18s receive free dental treatment. There are thousands of NHS places available across the area too.

It is important to take care of children’s teeth from an early age because it can prevent decay. A regular teeth cleaning routine is essential for good dental health. Also, taking children to the dentist means any health problems can be identified at an early stage.

Julie Theaker, Dentistry Lead for NHS Nottinghamshire County said: “Children should be brushing their teeth for at least two minutes twice a day; once in the morning and once before bedtime. Regular dental check-ups are vital and the school holidays are a great time to see an NHS dentist.”

The estimated figure is now below 19,000, having reached a high of 32,000 in 2009/10.

A report for the NHS Grampian board also showed the organisation was ahead of targets on recruitment for dentists and dental nurses.

But it also warned that major employment challenges still lay ahead. And it said dentists emerging from Aberdeen Dental School may quit the city because of a lack of accommodation.

Report author Ray Watkins, a consultant in Dental Public Health, said: “A lack of ability to provide new high quality premises may lead to a lack of local posts for emerging graduates from Aberdeen Dental School due to lack of training practice accommodation.”

He also highlighted a “concern over unfilled senior academic consultant posts in Aberdeen Dental School”.

Mr Watkins said the main challenges were in rural areas. He said: “Scottish Dental Access Initiative funding is now targeted at health board areas in most need and this includes Grampian.

“Recruitment has improved in the last thee years, but the majority of practitioners have chosen to be based within Aberdeen City.”

An estimated 25,000 people are travelling to Aberdeen City for dental care.

Mr Watkins said: “Recruitment issues still remain within Aberdeenshire and Moray.

“These community health partnerships still have some of the lowest numbers of dental professionals per head of population in Scotland.”

It is hoped all dental practices can be signed up to Childsmile care programme by the end of the year.

The initiative gives nursery and school pupils the opportunity to brush their teeth every day at school under supervision by teachers.

Currently, 71% of children are with an NHS dentist compared to a Scottish average of 84. For adults, the figures are 47% and 71% respectively.

The report said the 2012-2016 dental plan may need a dental registration target of an “additional 100,000″ patients if Grampian is to catch up.

Mr Watkins said: “Despite being on target to achieve 124,000 additional registrations over four years of the dental plan, child registration figures are lower than planned and registration levels in all age groups are among the worst in Scotland.”

Despite the difficulties, nearly 70% of children now start school in Grampian with no obvious dental decay compared with just less than half in 2003.

The report was to be considered by the board today.

The mobile dental unit, funded by NHS Worcester-shire, was launched in November 2010.

It is now fully operational, serving nearly 50 care homes across the county.

The specialised unit provides a full range of dental care, from cleaning teeth to work on root canals.

The trust’s dental commissioning manager, Nigel Crew, said: “Nearly one per cent of Worcestershire’s ageing population now live in a care or residential home.

“NHS Worcestershire has invested in this new high quality, mobile dental service to serve the needs of this growing segment of the population.

“We are delighted we have already received positive feedback about the service from our patients.

“We know access to NHS dentistry is important to people in Worcestershire and we are continuing to invest to expand provision.”

Dr Imran Wadee, from Gentle Dental Surgery in London Road, Worcester, runs the service and has already treated more than 250 care home residents across the county.

He said: “Regular dental examinations for older people are vital in order to ensure that any oral diseases are caught in the early stages.

“We hope that by taking this new mobile dental service to care homes across the county and we will be able to help people in the county’s care homes take care of their oral health.”

Residents of Dunley Hall and Ryans Court in Stourport-on-Severn received a visit from the mobile dental van. Care home manager Lizzie Flood said: “This is an absolute essential service for meeting the needs of older people who reside in a care home environment.

“It will allow our residents to be supported by familiar staff when accessing the service.”

But over recent years health officials have done all they can to improve dental accessibility.

And now their efforts have gone one step further in our area with the launch of a state-of-the-art mobile dental unit.

The new £150,000 vehicle – which is a fully-equipped dental surgery on wheels – is aimed at helping people who cannot easily access dental surgeries.

Havant Mayor Councillor Ken Smith officially opened the unit outside Waterlooville Health Centre yesterday.

He said: ‘Anything which increases dental access to the general public has got to be a good thing.

‘It’s wonderful we now have this unit. It will be a great benefit to the community.’

The specially-adapted unit, which will be run by Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, will be based at Waterlooville Health Centre most of the time but will travel elsewhere in Hampshire, to schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters and other health centres.

The unit is aimed at catering for people who are wheelchair bound, disabled, have learning difficulties, mental health problems, people in nursing homes and those in homeless shelters.

The unit has everything a normal dental practice would have, with added features such as a platform lift and wheelchair recliner to enable disabled access.

The unit also enables patients to remain in the safety and comfort of their own wheelchair at all times throughout the treatment.

Natalie Jones, lead commissioning manager primary care dental services at NHS Hampshire, said: ‘The unit is fantastic addition to the dental services we provide already, such as the home-treatment.

‘It’s great that we can now provide dental access to those who cannot get to a high street practice.’

Michael and Margaret Naylor and Associates at High Green Dental Practice were honoured at the recent National Apprenticeship Awards.

Margaret Naylor said: “As an NHS Dental Practice, the recruitment of apprentices is integral to the policy of providing a first class service to our patients.”

The list was compiled by the National Apprenticeship Service and City & Guilds.

John Bell said, that statistics from countries where dental care is subsidised suggest that there may not be a significant difference in standards of oral health if subsidised treatment was introduced in New Zealand. Talking on television, Mr Bell, said that attendance was higher in New Zealand than in the UK, where dental care is subsidised by the NHS.

Statistics show that 44 percent of New Zealanders do not visit their dentist on a regular basis, but according to Mr Bell, the figures are not as worrying as they may seem. The figure of 44 percent refers to the proportion of people who attend an annual check up and Mr Bell said that the figures for a two year period were much more positive.

Mr Bell was also asked about the cost of dental treatment, following advice from a consumer expert, which advised people who could not afford dental treatment to go ahead and have treatment and then tell their dentist they did not have the money to pay for it. In response, Mr Bell said that he did not support the advice offered by Kevin Milne but agreed that costs are becoming too high, which is making dental care inaccessible to many. Bell blames successive governments for failing to recognise dental health as a component of general health.

She was speaking at the opening of a new dental surgery in the area yesterday (Tuesday).

Complete Dental Care, owned by partners Omar Iqbal and Hassan Ali, is the latest NHS service to open in the area, whose regeneration programme continues.

Speaking at the opening, the Deputy First Minister said: “This practice is a welcome addition to this community and will mean more local people will have access to an NHS dentist.

“I welcome any NHS surgery as we’ve been working very hard over the last few years to improve access to dentists. Any new dental practice is a step in the right direction.

“The surgery will be great for the area. First and foremost, it is providing much-needed dental care, which has come a long way in Scotland over the last few years, and improving access to dentists, which is the most important aspect of this.

“There is no doubt that a new dental practice will bring more jobs and investment into the area and will provide a footfall into the area.

“It is also good for the regeneration of the area as well. I’m sure the local community will benefit from it.”

The surgery, located in Western Road, will help local residents who previously had to travel to Cambuslang or Rutherglen for the treatment. Ms Sturgeon expressed her delight that a more central service had been provided for the community.

She said: “Accessibility is everything. People need easy access to health services such as GPs and dentists and having something as central as this will be good for the community and I’m sure people will sign up here.”

The area, which is also undergoing major regeneration plans, now has its first dental service and healthcare is provided by the Whitlawburn Resource Centre.

Omar Iqbal and Hassan Ali studied together at Glasgow University and decided to open the service after research showed that nearly 70 per cent of people in the area were not registered with a dentist.

Hassan said: “We were both born in the south side of Glasgow and noticed that Whitlawburn was an area which really needed healthcare.

“We then did some research and when we saw the results we knew this was a prime chance to give back to the community and provide a quality NHS surgery.

“The main goal is to provide high-quality treatment. Everyone is entitled to two free check-ups per year but the problem is people don’t know that and their oral health is deteriorating.

“Our main goals is to improve oral health care and raise awareness.”

Councillor Claire McColl said the opening of the new surgery was “wonderful. If you have young children, you want something like this on your doorstep. This is a vast area and the people here don’t have a lot of money and the transport system isn’t very good so having a new dental surgery is a wonderful thing.”

The primary care trust said it was spending more than £1m on recruiting new dentists to clear the waiting list.

More than 9,000 people in the county are currently on a waiting list to find a place at an NHS practice.

John Renshaw, from the British Dental Association, said he was not “convinced” the numbers were accurate but welcomed improved access.

The trust’s figures show that the number of people waiting for an NHS dentist has already dropped by a fifth in the last four months.

‘Very concerned’

In February, 11,556 people were on the list but by 1 July, the figure stood at 9,195.

Mr Renshaw said it was a “worrying” figure but he questioned its accuracy.

He said: “Many of the patients who are approached, whose names are on the lists, don’t want an NHS dentist. They have already made alternative arrangements.”

Lorraine Naylor, assistant director of primary care for NHS North Yorkshire and York, admitted there was a problem when patients applied directly to a dentist for a place and failed to inform the NHS when they had secured one, therefore remaining on the waiting list.

Ms Naylor also said she was very sorry that people were still having to wait.

“We are very concerned about the situation which is why we are spending over a million to try and recruit more dentists,” she said.

“We hope to start clearing the list by Christmas this year and by April next year everyone who wants access to an NHS dentist in North Yorkshire will have it.”

The Peninsula Dental School in Truro opened its doors at the beginning of the year.

The students get the chance to treat local people in specially equipped surgeries.

Many of the people who benefited say they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access NHS dentistry.

Peggy from Newquay is one of the many patients taking up the offer: “It’s been marvellous because I’ve had the opportunity to come here where they are practicing.

The Dental Education Clinic at the Knowledge Spa at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro opened and began offering free treatment to patients on Monday 11 January 2010.Gill Jones, Director of Community Based Dentistry at the Cornwall school says there are 32 dental chairs arranged in four bays of eight, plus two single surgeries for special treatments.The students work with their patients in each of those surgeries, supervised by highly experienced general dental practitioners and a team of nurses.Senior Dental Nurse, Ros Chambers, says the equipment at the school is almost exactly the same as you would see in a professional dental practice:”It’s basically the same, our students can get an understanding of how a dental practice actually works.”Patients currently being treated there are those on the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly PCT dental treatment waiting list.Other NHS patients who are happy to be treated by a supervised dental student should phone 0845 155 8109 to put themselves on to the list for assessment and treatment.The South West Peninsula Dental School opened its doors to its first students in September 2007.Patients were welcomed to the Dental Education Clinic in Exeter in April 2008 and then at Devonport in Plymouth in April 2009.The Truro clinic is the third with a fourth facility due to open at Derriford in Plymouth in Spring 2011.

The Peninsula Dental School, in Plymouth, said 30 of the 47 dentists graduating planned to stay in Devon and Cornwall.

It said the graduates had decided to remain in the counties to complete their on-the-job training.

The 30 graduates will work at NHS Trusts throughout Devon and Cornwall.

Historically there has been a great demand for NHS dentists in Devon and Cornwall.

In 2004, BBC News reported that 42% of people living in the Teignbridge area had access to an NHS dentist compared to 49% across England.

In 2006, the Bond Street NHS dental practice in Redruth received more than 9,000 applications, but there were only enough places for about 7,500 people.

The Peninsula Dental School opened its doors to its first students in September 2007.