Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what has been the cost to the National Health Service in the last year of the number of children being hospitalised for the extensive extraction of deciduous teeth; and whether they will consider setting up day-care clinics that could carry out such work.

The following table shows the estimated cost of tooth extractions for children aged 18 years and under for 2012-13. The data covers all tooth extractions, and does not distinguish between deciduous or adult teeth.

Source: Reference costs, Department of Health¹

Tooth extractions in children often involve general anaesthesia. Extractions involving general anaesthesia were restricted to the hospital setting following the recommendations of the 2000 report ‘A conscious decision’ that patients should have access to high quality critical care facilities when general anaesthesia is given. There are currently no plans to change this. Many extractions are carried out on a day case basis; whether the extraction is carried out as a day case or requires an overnight admission is a matter for the clinicians involved.

70% of five year olds now have no dental decay but we recognise that significant inequalities remain. Wider work is under way through dental contract reform and other prevention focussed initiatives to improve oral health.

Note:

¹www.gov.uk/government/publications/nhs-reference-costs-2012-to-2013