Only two dentists in the Reading West and Mid Berkshire area are accepting new NHS adult patients.
The issue has been raised in Parliament by MP Olivia Bailey.
According to NHS data, 30.7 per cent of adults in West Berkshire have seen a dentist in the last two years, in comparison to the England average of 40.3 per cent.
“In my constituency of Reading West and Mid Berkshire, only two dental practices are accepting adult patients and vast swathes of the rural parts of my constituency have no practice at all,” said Ms Bailey.
“Will [the health minister] set out how this Government’s plans will support my constituents to access the dental care they need?”
In response, health minister Stephen Kinnock recognised the issue faced by areas like Reading West and Mid Berkshire, highlighting how reforms to the dental contract are needed to incentivise dentists to take on NHS patients.
The Government has committed to delivering 700,000 new urgent dentistry appointments, including 15,454 appointments in Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West ICB, and reforming the dental contract to ensure dentists serve NHS patients in places in need.
There are no dentist practices operating at all in the rural villages to the west of Theale and Pangbourne.
The Government is incentivising dentists to move to areas of the country struggling with provision and introducing a series of preventative measures to prevent childhood tooth decay.
In a scheme set up by the previous Tory Government, dentists who set up practice in areas of England with poor access to NHS care will be offered a £20,000 bonus.
That Government also announced higher payments for dentists who take on new patients and teeth-cleaning in schools as part of a plan to expand levels of dental care.
The plans have been criticised as not going far enough by dental leaders and – at the time – Labour.
The British Dentistry Association said this is “rearranging the deckchairs”.
Five-year-olds in West Berkshire have an average of three decayed teeth each.
This compares with an average of 3.4 in the South East and 3.5 in England in 2021/22.
Among those five-year-olds who did not have any tooth decay, there were an average of 0.5 decayed, missing or filled teeth in West Berkshire, compared to 0.7 in the South East and 0.8 in England.
The Extraction Index, which explores teeth with dental decay that have been pulled out, found that 2.2 per cent of decayed teeth had been extracted in West Berkshire among five-year-olds, compared with 3.9 per cent in the South East and 6.4 per cent in England.
The percentage in West Berkshire was significantly lower than the England average.
In 2022/23, a survey was carried out among Year 6 children (10- to 11-year-olds).
Although West Berkshire did not take part in the survey, results for England found that 16.2 per cent of children had experience of tooth decay.
In 2022/23, there were 130 tooth extractions in NHS hospitals for 0-19-year-olds in West Berkshire.
Ms Bailey said: “In a constituency with many rural villages, access to local dentists is vital for people who aren’t necessarily able to travel in Reading or other nearby towns to get seen.
“I was pleased to raise this issue in Parliament and was encouraged by the minister’s reassurance that reform of the dentistry contact will incentivise more dentists to open up to NHS patients.
“In the meantime, I would urge any constituents experiencing difficulties with finding an NHS dentist to contact my office for support.”
