Seeing a NHS dentist was expected to get easier under the new dentistrycontract, introduced in April last year, because primary care trustsbecame legally responsible for ensuring the NHS meets "all reasonablerequirements". But Government figures show that since the reforms wereintroduced, 11,000 fewer children were seen by NHS dentists.
In the year before the contract's introduction, NHS dentists saw7,797,000 children. But a year after the contract's introduction thisnumber fell to 7,786,000.
Susie Sanderson, chair of the executive board of the British DentalAssociation, said the figures were evidence that reforms were going inthe wrong direction.
"It's significant for those 11,000 children. But principally therehasn't been an increase and that is what concerns us."
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