Toothache piling financial pressure on A&E

The study, from Newcastle University’s Centre for Oral Health Research, reveals that patients attending A&E with dental problems are now approaching 1 per cent (0.7 per cent) of all attendances. This is ten times official government figures – with over half of the cases identified related to toothache.

Around 14,500 patients with dental problems attended England’s A&Es according to official stats in 2014/15. The BDA has estimated that systematic under reporting could conservatively place dental attendees at closer to 135k patients per year at an annual cost of nearly £18m – with over 95k cases of toothache coming in at £12.5m.

The BDA recently estimated that 600k patients a year are seeking treatment from GPs, who like A&E medics are not equipped to treat dental pain. Dentists’ leaders have called on ministers to show leadership, provide a coherent strategy for oral health and stop pushing patients away with inflation busting increases in NHS charges.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, chair of General Dental Practice at the BDA, said: “Ministers keep underestimating how much their indifference to dentistry has knock on effects across the health service. GPs and A&E medics are having to pick up the pieces, while government’s only strategy is to ask our patients to pay more in to plug the funding gap.