Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 16 December 2016 to Question 57423, what estimate he has made of the number of children who are registered with a dentist.

Patients do not have to register to receive National Health Service dental services so information is not held in the form requested.

Information is available on the number of children receiving NHS dental services (‘patients seen’) in a 12 month period. This information is published quarterly.

Information on children seen covers 12 months as this is the maximum intervals National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends for children between dental checkups.