Oral health (health and wellbeing needs in South Tyneside)

Access to dental care

• Patients may access primary care NHS dental services anywhere in England although most will choose to secure a service close to where they live. In the North East NHS dental care is the service through which the vast majority of people secure dental services and purely private practice has not been identified as a significant part of the North East health care economy. The North East had the highest level of access to NHS dental services of any former Strategic Health Authority Area in March 2013.
• Early attendance at a dentist allows professional advice on diet, brushing and other key preventative factors to be given. Primary care dental services are services which can be accessed by any patient without the need for a referral from another healthcare professional.
• Access to dental services for school aged children is good with over 70% or more of children aged 5-13 accessing NHS dental services in the 12 month period. This declines amongst young adults but there is significant gender gap of around 15% between males and females. Young females in their 20s have a better health seeking behaviour than males. In the middle age 50% or more of the population access dental services, with a decline in the retired population.
• In 2009, 92% of adults were able to successfully make an appointment at a dentist for treatment1 and 74% of adults attended regular dental check-ups in the past three years.

• South Tyneside patients seen by an NHS dentist as a percentage of the population, by local authority, in the period ending December 2016:
  • 81% of child (0 - 17) population seen in previous 12 months
  • 83% of adult (18+) population seen in the previous 24 months

Low income families

• Nationally 45% of patients paid for their NHS dental care, 27% paid for private care, 25% received free NHS dental care and just 1% received a combination of both NHS and private dental care.
• In general, more free NHS care is provided in the north of England than the south. The second largest proportion of patients receiving free NHS dental care is the North East (29%).
• Using free school meals as a proxy for low income households - those eligible have worse overall dental health and reported poorer attendance for dental check-ups than ineligible children.

Wider unmet need

• There are a number of factors that impact upon oral health as identified in the Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF). Consideration should be given to both the levels of unmet need in these domains, and the implications for local oral health.
• Recent PHOF indicators which identify factors impacting on oral health can be found on Table 3 of the Appendices.