Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps he has taken to help reduce (a) regional and (b) wealth inequalities in access to NHS dentistry services.

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including National Health Service dentistry, to meet the needs of the local populations, and for determining the priorities for investment.

We do not hold data on access to NHS dentistry according to income. However, ICBs are responsible for undertaking special care oral health needs assessments to inform local commissioning intentions that reduce inequalities in access and priorities for investment.

We have asked ICBs to commission extra urgent dental appointments, with these appointments more heavily weighted towards those areas where they are needed the most. ICBs have been making extra appointments available from 1 April 2025.

More broadly, as per the 10-Year Health Plan for England, we are shifting the focus from treatment to prevention. This includes assessing the roll out of further water fluoridation programmes in areas where oral health outcomes are poorest, and through targeted action such as our supervised toothbrushing programme for three to five-year-olds living in the 20% most deprived areas of England. Both of these interventions improve oral health and reduce inequalities.