The Isle of Man is experiencing huge difficulties when recruiting dentists, the health minister for the island has said.
Speaking in the House of Keys, Lawrie Hoper notes that the island is experiencing trouble hiring qualified dental staff, along with the rest of the British Isles.
He said a special care dentist was recently advertised by Manx Care with a ‘full relocation package’ – but ‘all applicants failed to meet the minimum criteria’, reports the BBC.
Contract changes
Last month, Manx Care made calls for comprehensive reform of the NHS dental contracts on the island.
Statistics show that by the end of July, the number of people waiting for treatment was about 4,000 – double that of April 2022.
Manx Care chief executive Teresa Cope said many dental practices were under-delivering on their contracts due to limited capacity. As a result, she called for changes to encourage dental practices to take on more patients.
Benefits of fluoridation
The Isle of Man also recently announced that it will look into the benefits of water fluoridation as part of its integrated plan to tackle the issue of children’s oral health on the island.
Published on 20 September, Amalgamated Implementation Plan for Dental Strategy and Oral Health Strategy incorporates strategies such as increased access to dentists and the introduction of a supervised toothbrushing scheme. It will be laid before the Tynwald at their October sitting.
The plan also includes further research into the benefits of water fluoridation. In June, Tynwald members voted in favour of producing a research paper into water fluoridation. This will now be considered by the Council of Ministers by the end of 2023.
The strategies were based on recommendations made by The Social Affairs Policy Review committee in January.
The committee described hospital admissions of Manx children for tooth extractions as ‘remarkably high’, emphasising that this was ultimately ‘preventable’.
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