The pandemic has created a huge backlog in dental treatments across Oxfordshire.

The result is nearly 500,000 lost NHS appointments since lockdown, including over 150,000 for children, according to figures released this week by the British Dental Association.

In the same period, 292,363 adults in Oxfordshire paid for treatment.

The total courses of treatment delivered pre-pandemic between January 2019 and March 2020 were 653,014 with 207,476 of those for children.

Total delivered post lockdown from April 2020 to the end of December 2021 were 422,230 with 135,096 treatments for children.

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The British Dental Association said its new data shows that nationally a full year's worth of appointments has now been lost since lockdown.

Analysis of new Freedom of Information data indicates that nationally just short of 40 million fewer courses of treatment have been delivered since March 2020, when compared to pre-Covid levels.

According to a new survey, over 40 per cent of dentists indicate they are likely to change career or seek early retirement in the next 12 months given the current pressures on the service.

Two thirds (66 per cent) indicate they will reduce their NHS commitment, with more than a third (34 per cent) stating they plan to go fully private in the next year, and less than half (48 per cent) are confident their practice will continue to provide any NHS services from April 2022.

Dentists now face financial penalties for failing to hit imposed targets of 85 per cent of pre-Covid activity during the Omicron wave, amid high levels of staff sickness and patient cancellations.

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The BDA said data indicates a significant majority of practices will be unable to hit this target.

British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch said: "A year's worth of dentistry has been lost, and we are yet to detect any real urgency from government.

"Patients are bottling up problems and oral health inequality is set to skyrocket. Yet far from this crisis being a Covid blip, it now risks becoming a fact of life for families across England.

"Ministers have recognised the system is rotten, but there is still no timetable for change and no tangible commitment to row back on a decade of cuts.

"Dentists need to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Exhausted colleagues are making exit plans while desperate patients are facing year-long waiting times.

"It will take more than warm words to halt the exodus from this service and restore access to millions."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We’re giving the NHS £50 million for up to 350,000 extra dental appointments to allow more people to get the oral care they need.

“That’s on top of the our unprecedented support for NHS dentists during the pandemic, including protecting the incomes of dental practices which couldn’t deliver all their usual services.”