An Oxfordshire politician has said she is "appalled" that more than 83,000 children were not seen by an NHS dentist in the county last year.

MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, Layla Moran has raised the concerns as latest NHS figures show more than 200,000 adults haven’t been seen by an NHS dentist in the last two years.

Ms Moran said: "A rescue package for dentistry is urgently needed.

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“That means reforming NHS dentistry to boost the number of appointments, supervised teeth cleaning in schools and childcare settings and removing VAT on children’s toothbrushes and toothpaste.”

The MP went on to say that the Conservative government has "shown a total disregard for every aspect of our health service".

She also called for the spending of any unspent funding from recent years on boosting the number of appointments.

Witney Gazette: MP Layla Moran MP Layla Moran (Image: Layla Moran)

Her comments come as 41 per cent of children were not seen by NHS dentists across Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, and West Berkshire, with the figure standing at 60.7 per cent for adults.

This comes following the Oxford Mail’s discovery last month that only one of Oxfordshire’s dentists was accepting new adult NHS patients.

The British Dental Association recently warned that NHS dentistry is "on the brink of collapse".

Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (ICB) responded: “Prior to the pandemic about 52 per cent of the population of Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West (BOB) attended NHS dental services over a two-year period. 

“Other people would either attend private dental practices or would not attend any dental practice unless they experienced pain.

“This fell to about 36 per cent of the population in early 2022.

“Since then, there has been a recovery in access with about 43 per cent of the population attending an NHS Dentist in the two years up to July 2023.

“This is still below pre-pandemic levels and challenges remain in terms of access, particularly for patients who have not attended a local practice in recent years.

“To help address this situation national changes were introduced the dental contract in late 2022 and locally dental practices have been invited to take part in schemes to support access for patients who faced challenges.

“The BOB ICB has recently launched a Flexible Commissioning scheme to support access for those patients who have found access difficult.

“This involves converting part of the contract from delivering activity targets to provide access for patients who may need more time to support their treatment.

“The scheme started in June 2023 with 30 practices in the ICB (18 in Oxfordshire) taking part.

“So far, these practices have seen about 2,500 patients under the Flexible Commissioning scheme.”