§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what is the estimated percentage of the population with tooth decay, giving the figures for(a) the total United Kingdom population and (b) those aged one to 10 years; [25365]
(2) what is the estimated number of cases amongst those aged one to 10 years of (a) tooth decay and (b) tooth extraction due to tooth decay. [23569]
§ Mr. MaloneThe table shows the proportion of children in England aged from 0 to 10 years with permanent teeth which are actively decayed, filled or missing due to decay. In young children, it is difficult to establish whether a tooth has been lost naturally or through decay. The Office of Population Censuses and Surveys adult dental survey, 1988, shows that in England, 43 per cent, of dentate adults in the survey had decayed or unsound teeth. For further explanation of decay in primary teeth and levels of adult tooth decay, I refer the hon. Member to the following OPCS publications—"Adult Dental Survey (1988)" and "Children's Dental Health in the United Kingdom (1993)". These publications are held in the Library. Information relating to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are matters for my right hon. Friends the Secretaries of State for Scotland and for Wales and my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
763W
§ Mr. Martyn JonesTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many cases of tooth decay were treated in the United Kingdom in(a) 1994–95 and (b) 1990 to 1995; [23566]
(2) what is the estimated cost of treating tooth decay for (a) the NHS and (b) patients for (i) 1994–95 and (ii) 1990 to 1995. [23568]
§ Mr. MaloneInformation is not available about the cost of treating tooth decay or the number of cases. The
General Dental Service: number of adult courses of treatment and cost1 England Year Number of adult courses of treatment Total NHS gross expenditure (millions) £ Cost of the GDS borne by the Exchequer (millions) £ Cost borne by patient (millions) £ 1990–91 22,558,739 1,039.996 660.267 379.729 1991–92 24,273,099 1,245.970 842.000 403.970 1992–93 25,141,300 1,305.879 911.092 394.787 1993–94 24,847,648 1,221.719 854.695 367.024 1994–95 24,913,096 1,282.294 897.266 385.028 1 The cost of figures for 1994–95 are provisional.
§ Mrs. BeckettTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many patients have been deregistered from NHS dental treatment; and how many NHS dentists have given up NHS dental work entirely since July 1992. [26292]
§ Mr. MaloneSince July 1992, 891,554 patients have been deregistered by their dentists for reasons other than retirement. In the same period, a total number of 426 dentists removed their names completely from the dental list for reasons other than retirement. The number of dentists contracted to provide national health service general dental services has, however, increased in the period by over 2 per cent.—15,745 on 31 March 1995 compared with 15,426 on 30 June 1992—and, over the same period, there have been some 33 million additions to NHS dentists' lists. These additions include patients moving from one dentist to another and patients re-registering with the same dentist after a gap.