UK - Dentist visits in East Lancashire are on rise

Dentist visits in East Lancashire are on rise
1:14pm Thursday 3rd July 2008
By Camilla Sutcliffe »
MORE people across East Lancashire are visiting the dentist.
New figures released by the NHS Information Centre have shown that 257,152 people visited the dentist between March and December 2007, up almost 7,000 from the previous six months.
But only 43.8 per cent of the population of Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle, Rossendale and the Ribble Valley saw the dentist in that time, compared to 62.7 per cent of the Blackburn with Darwen population.
Both Blackburn with Darwen Primary Care Trust and East Lancashire Primary Care Trust, which covers the rest of the region, are concentrating resources on dental health under their strategies to reduce health inequalities - socio-economic and health factors which mean those in poorer areas have much shorter life expectancies than the more affluent.

A new dental training school opened at the Accrington Victoria Hospital earlier this year, in conjunction with the University of Central Lancashire, and both PCTs have launched long-term dental health strategies targeting schoolchildren.

Although more people are visiting the dentist, East Lancashire PCT is falling 10 per cent behind the UK average on percentages of people seen. Blackburn with Darwen is faring better, at almost 10 per cent above the national average of 53.7 per cent.

But the whole region still has one of the worst records in the country for dental cavities in children, prompting health officials to consider fluoridation of water among other measures. Hilary Whitehead, clinical director for Blackburn and East Lancashire Community Dental Services, said: “We are making exciting and positive moves forward. "Everyone knows the difficulties we have experienced in trying to give a full NHS service to residents in East Lancashire.”