Oldham’s Liberal Democrats have slammed the government for issuing a claim that the number of NHS dentists grew by 500 last year. 

Local party leader Cllr Howard Sykes MBE has hit out at a statement from the Department for Health and Social Care, which came in response to concerns by councillors over access to NHS dentists in the borough.

In the statement, a Government spokesperson claimed: “The number of dentists practising in the NHS increased by over 500 last year."

The party leader said the statement appeared to contradict official data released by the department earlier this year, which revealed that the number of NHS dentists had fallen by more than 950 across England from 24,684 in 2019/20 to 23,733 in 2020/21.

In Oldham, there were 180 dentists practising in 2019/20, but this had fallen to just 148 in 2020/21 – the second largest decrease in the North West, after Bolton.

Councillor Howard Sykes MBE said, “NHS dentistry is in crisis. 

“Less than four in ten people in Oldham who need an appointment actually get one, we know that one in five of those waiting for care are resorting to DIY dentistry and now we have the government telling us in September that the number of dentists is up by 500 when in July they said that they were down by nearly 1,000.  Which is it?” 

“This is really basic stuff.  We expect Health Officials to at least have a handle on the facts.  These dodgy figures are just the latest bluff from a government which is way out of its depth and lurching from crisis to crisis.”

Government data from August 2022 shows there are now 24,272 dentists in England – the lowest since 2016/17, when there were 24,007.

This is an increase of 539 from 2020/21, but still an overall decrease of 412 from 2019/20.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “The latest published NHS Dental Statistics for England for August 2022 show an increase of 539 practising dentists from the year before, as NHS dentists return to higher levels of activity post-pandemic.

“Our Plan for Patients sets out how we will enable more people to access NHS dental treatment. We want to see all members of the dental team, including dental therapists, nurses and hygienists, working to the full extent of their professional qualifications and we have already started changing the dental contract to incentivise dentists to do more NHS work and take on more difficult cases.

“We are amending the law to allow the General Dental Council to simplify registration for dentists not trained in England, so they can start practising in the NHS more quickly.”