Written question asked by David Hinchliffe (Labour) on Friday, 17 September 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 21 October 2004. It was answered by Baroness Winterton of Doncaster (Labour) on Thursday, 21 October 2004 on behalf of the Department of Health.

Dept of Health

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what account was taken in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review, when estimating the number of additional dentists required by 2011, of the views of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on appropriate dental recall intervals.

Answer: Mr. Hinchliffe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what account was taken in the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review, when estimating the number of additional dentists required by 2011, of the views of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence on appropriate dental recall intervals. [189838] Ms Rosie Winterton: The model on which the review was based was constructed in 2002, before the National Institute for Clinical Excellence had published draft guidance proposing that the recommended interval between oral health reviews should be determined specifically for each patient based on disease levels and risk of dental disease. This contrasts with current practice of recalling patients at six monthly intervals. We took account of the implications of the draft guidance for the workload of dentists in announcing plans to recruit the equivalent of 1,000 additional dentists and will be checking our progress next year.

Secondary information

Type: Written question
Reference: 425 c921W; 189838
Session: 2003-04
Subjects: Dental services Dentistry Patients Recruitment National Institute for Clinical Excellence
Link: View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk