More than 5.35m children in England have not been seen by an NHS dentist for at least a year, House of Commons Library research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed.

The research estimated the number of children who weren’t seen by an NHS dentist in the year to March 2024, based on the latest data from the NHS.

This includes nearly one million children in the southeast of England alone. This means almost half of all children in the region have not seen a dentist in the past 12 months. This is a trend across the country, with 44.6 per cent of children not seeing a dentist in the last year.

In Hackney, 62.3 per cent (nearly two in three) of children had not seen an NHS dentist in the past year, more than anywhere else in the country. Other areas with the highest rate of children not seeing NHS dentists in the past year include Herefordshire (61.7 per cent), Portsmouth (59.3 per cent) and Thurrock (58.54 per cent).

The NHS recommends that under-18s see a dentist at least once a year because their teeth can decay faster than adults. Tooth decay is also the leading cause of hospital admissions for children aged six-to-10.

The Liberal Democrats have pledged to offer more NHS dentist appointments and deliver free check-ups for children to combat the growing crisis in NHS dentistry.

The party has also called for reform of the NHS dental contract to bring private dentists back into the NHS to create more appointments and for the removal of VAT on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Daisy Cooper, the health and social care spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats, said, “It’s a scandal that, across the country, millions of children are going without basic dental care. The previous Conservative government mismanaged NHS dentistry so badly that they presided over under-spends in the dentistry budget whilst children’s teeth were left to rot.

“This appalling situation cannot go on. We, the Liberal Democrats, are calling for an emergency registration scheme so that children who are eligible for free check-ups can actually access them, and for reform of the broken dental contract to bring more dentists back to the NHS and end the scandal of dental deserts.

“The new government cannot waste any time in gripping this emergency and rescuing NHS dentistry to ensure our children get the care they deserve.”

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