Employers are increasingly looking to provide dental cover as part of their workplace benefits as new statistics show almost 27m adults have not visited a dentist for over two years.
NHS England’s latest annual dental report shows that a total of 18.1 million adults were seen in the past two years as of June 2023. This is almost 4m fewer appointments that were made in the two years prior to the pandemic, reflecting difficulties many people now face accessing dental treatment, particularly on the NHS.
The data comes amid falling numbers of NHS dentists – 24,151 dentists performed NHS activity during 2022-23, a decrease of 121 on the previous year.
It is not just adults who are struggling to get regular dental appointments. This report shows the number of children visiting a dentist in a 12-month period has also declined markedly, falling from 7m in June 2019 to 6.4m as of June 2023.
These statistics mean more than 5m under 18s have not had a dentist appointment in the past year.
Broadstone head of health and protection Brett Hill says: “The pandemic obviously caused huge disruption in the system yet we are still seeing huge blockages in the system with adults struggling to access NHS treatment across the nation.
“Declining numbers of dentists practising NHS activity mean that patients are struggling to get into practises and access subsidised treatment – crucial in a cost of living crisis.
“Dental issues can cause huge physical and mental strain as well as contributing to more serious health issues like cardiovascular disease, so strain in the system will add to the surge in economic inactivity due to chronic health issues and low productivity that the nation is grappling with.
“We are seeing growing demand from employers to provide dental options through the private market to ensure their staff can maintain their oral health. This provides both short term access to dental treatment but also a longer-term investment in the health, wellbeing and productivity of employees.”
Canada Life protection sales director Dan Crook adds: “Although treatment levels have improved significantly in the latest reporting period, they are still down on pre-pandemic levels.
“With demand for dentistry services vastly outstripping supply, we are now seeing reports of increasing absenteeism and presenteeism as a direct result. We therefore need to get creative and find a solution for our employer customers.” He adds that this has led the company to offer its virtual dental service, Toothfairy to its group protection customers, at no extra cost.
“Since launch in April, we’ve seen huge demand for virtual appointments. Employees have been able to access virtual dentist appointments and receive the help and prescriptions they need quickly and simply. To date, 70 per cent of queries have been resolved with the assistance of an in-app dentist.”
