WEST HERTS SEES 1,037 TOOTH EXTRACTIONS IN A SINGLE YEAR
April 21, 2009 3:17 PM
As St Albans and Hertfordshire emerges from the annual Easter chocolate binge, a parliamentary answer to Lib Dem MP Norman Lamb has revealed a continuing rise in English tooth extractions under general anaesthetic. In 2007-8, 175,447 people had teeth extracted in England, an increase of 40,000 in four years.
For the West Hertfordshire PCT area, the figure for 2007-8, the most recent for which statistics are available, was 1,037. There were 34 West Herts children under the age of 5, 159 6-18 year olds, and 844 over the age of 19.
It is difficult to do the comparisons with four years previously for West Hertfordshire because current figures are for West Herts PCT which is a relatively new body. But a scan of the earlier figures for the now defunct Hertsmere, Watford, Dacorum and St Albans PCTs indicate that there has been a rising trend in tooth extraction locally as well as nationally.
"We know there is a crisis in access to NHS dentistry," said Sandy Walkington, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for St Albans. "The new NHS dental contract was supposedly designed to improve the situation. It does not seem to be working."
What would you like to do next?
-
Subscribe for updates
Follow the party's activity on...
- Twitter:
- Liberal Democrats
- Facebook:
- Liberal Democrats
- YouTube:
- Liberal Democrats