Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce dental health inequalities within and between regions of the UK.

National Health Service dentists throughout the country have been asked to maximise safe throughput to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focussing first on urgent care and vulnerable groups followed by overdue appointments. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have provided a toolkit to local commissioners to help focus the available capacity on those that need it most and to reduce oral health inequalities.

We are committed to consulting on rolling out a supervised toothbrushing scheme in more pre-school and primary school settings in England. We are also taking steps through the Health and Care Bill to make it easier to expand water fluoridation schemes so that more of the population can benefit from this clinically and cost-effective intervention. The Government’s sugar reduction programme will also have a positive effect on improving oral health and reducing health in equalities.