Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department plans to (a) move towards a preventative model of care for dentistry and (b) bring forward a public awareness campaign on oral health.

NHS England will engage with stakeholders in dental professional groups on improving urgent care access; supporting access for new patients; re-orientating the system towards prevention; and on dental team recruitment and retention and integration with the National Health Service.

In addition, the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities has published ‘Delivering better oral health: an evidence-based toolkit for prevention’ for dental teams to support delivery of preventive advice and treatment for patients, which is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/delivering-better-oral-health-an-evidence-based-toolkit-for-prevention