Just over a quarter (26 per cent) of adults say the type of dental treatment
they chose in the past has been affected by the cost of treatment. And
almost a fifth (19 per cent) said that they have delayed dental treatment for the same reason, according to a major survey published today.
Image by epSos.de via Flickr
The Executive Summary of the 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey, which Newcastle University experts were heavily involved in, shows that adults’ dental health continues to improve over time and that whilst the large majority of adults who tried to get an NHS dental appointment in the three years prior to being interviewed successfully made and attended the appointment, accessing NHS dental services remained difficult for a small minority.
The 2009 Adult Dental Health Survey
for England, Wales and Northern Ireland was commissioned by The NHS
Information Centre and carried out by the Office for National
Statistics (ONS).
The findings show that, overall, half (50 per
cent) of all adults with at least one natural tooth (‘dentate’)
reported that they attended the dentist
at least once every six months, 21 per cent indicated that they
attended at least once a year, and a further 6 per cent once every two
years.
