Dentists smilewatch report

Access to dental services has always been one of the areas that Healthwatch Derby has had a lot of requests for information from the residents of the city.

Healthwatch Derby undertook a look into emergency dental access in its 2017 report Specialised Enter and View Derbyshire Community Health Services Coleman Street Emergency Dental Access.

The findings of this report inform Derby city has a higher prevalence of children under 5 with tooth decay than the national average and there is a higher level of tooth decay in the more deprived areas. There are initiatives underway to help educate and improve oral health care both locally and nationally.

However, there is still a large percentage of the population that do not seek regular check- ups. The reasons given: They were unable to get a dental appointment in a reasonable time frame; They do not think they need to see a dentist (highest in 18-24 age group); They are nervous of seeing a dentist; They thought it was expensive. There are capacity issues locally particularly for new patients trying to find a NHS dentist with only about half of the service providers available to take on NHS patients.

For those in residential care there are issues in finding a dentist to visit the home and a reliance on family, friends or staff members taking patients to where they are already registered or to the emergency provision. This put added pressure on the Emergency provision at Coleman Street and Royal Derby Hospital. The majority of people rate the services as good after they have received dental treatment; whether from a dental practice or through the emergency services. There are still some barriers when it comes to language and translation services.

The report contains 5 recommendations specifically focused on raising awareness of oral health and how to achieve it.