Covid closure of dentists sees number of fillings procedures plunge

by Michael McHugh, PA and Q Radio News

The number of dental filling procedures during lockdown plunged by 144,000 in Northern Ireland, NHS statistics showed.

The official subsidy to maintain the viability of general dental services increased by around £1 million a month over the first month of the pandemic.

Total extractions was just more than a quarter of the corresponding period last year, the Department of Health said.

Appointments were curtailed with routine dental care restricted from the middle of March due to the risk of passing the virus through aerosol generating procedures (AGPs)

Urgent care centres have been established in each trust.

The report from the Department of Health said: "The need to provide financial support to maintain the viability of general dental services means that approximately £1 million in additional net payments are being made to dental practices each month compared with the same period in 2019, in spite of the reduction in activity."

Hundreds of thousands of patients will lose access to dental care if better protective equipment is not provided by the NHS, dentists have said.

Routine treatment resumed recently, with limited numbers of appointments to allow for regular cleaning of surgeries.

Urgent care centres remain open until the end of August.

Richard Graham, Chair of the Northern Ireland Dental Practice Committee said despite dentists now being able to conduct AGP's with the proper PPE, new safety procedures including intense cleaning are having a major impact on surgeries. 

"If you come in for a filling it may only take 20/25 minutes. 

"The whole appointment is going to take close to two hours, so we can do about 20% of what we could do before. 

"So that's three quarters of our patients who are not going to be able to be seen." 

Dentists have urged the Department of Health to cover the cost of purchasing a higher level of personal protective equipment.

They believe it is needed during aerosol-generating procedures such as fillings.

The Health and Social Care Board has launched a scheme to provide funding to general dental practices for mask fit testing.

The minister has also announced that a financial support scheme, which has already provided £16 million in payments to local dentists, will continue for a further month to support the return of non-urgent dental care as the restrictions are lifted.

In the interim, the department said it would engage with the profession around the provision of ongoing financial support for the remainder of 2020/21.

Mr Graham added dentists received news at the weekend of government support for enhanced protective equipment, however, he says there weren't many details available yet. 

"That stuff we never ever had to buy before and it's extremely expensive, so without help to buy that we were never going to be able to function. 

"The government has realised that and they've put together a package to hopefully help with that." 

(Richard Graham, BDA)