Increasing costs provoke fall in dental visits

This figure has more than doubled in the last two years. In 2017, money worries accounted for as little as 17 per cent of the reasons for non-attendance.

Nigel Carter, chief executive of the Oral Health Foundation, is urging the government to review its decision earlier this year to increase NHS dental charges by five per cent.

Nigel says, “The cost of visiting an NHS dentist is increasing far beyond that of inflation and pushing many of the population to breaking point.

“The decision to yet again raise the cost of check-ups will hit the poorest areas of society even harder and force even more people to avoid dental visits.