Three-year wait for NHS child tooth removals

Children in Kent and Medway are waiting nearly three years to have their teeth removed under general anaesthetic in hospital.

About 200 children - many with autism or learning disabilities - are waiting for dental extractions. The longest wait according to NHS records is 143 weeks, or nearly two years and nine months.

Children with additional needs often have to be admitted to a hospital with a paediatric intensive care unit in order to have a general anaesthetic.

Mark Johnstone, clinical services director for Kent Community Health Foundation Trust (KCHFT), said: "We would need a further nine theatre sessions per month for the next year to return to acceptable waiting times."

The Kent and Medway service has been trying to get more access to theatre sessions.

In 2022-23 it was allocated just three sessions, each of which would only take three to four children.

Mr Johnstone, clinical services director for dental and planned care services for KCHFT which provides the community dental services, said: "We are competing for space with all other services that provide paediatric surgery under general anaesthetic, and capacity is given to children with the greatest clinical need."

Mr Johnstone added Kent Community Health is working with two nearby acute trusts – East Kent Hospitals University FT and Barts Health Trust – to use their theatres. But he added there is no option to use the private sector "as they do not have a paediatric intensive care unit, which is a requirement for this care."

British Dental Association chair, Eddie Crouch, said: "Tooth decay remains the number one reason for child hospital admissions, but these patients are just not viewed as a priority.

"It means dentistry remains at the back of the queue in the battle for time and space in our operating theatres."

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