What you’ve missed this week

Missed out on this week’s dental news? No problem, here’s what happened over the past seven days…

Cornwall patients waiting a year for NHS dental appointment

Patients in Penzance are waiting 12 months for the next available NHS dental appointment.

Cornwall Live reports check ups cancelled by text with August 2020 the next available appointment date.

NHS data shows no practices within a 120-mile trip of Penzance are currently accepting new NHS patients.

The BDA is pointing to a ‘recruitment crisis’ as the main reason patients are unable to get a dental appointment.

It claims access issues have mounted in recent years across England as recruitment and retention problems worsened.

Simplyhealth is revamping its Denplan brand

Denplan is revamping under the new brand name of ‘Denplan, part of Simplyhealth’.

As part of its brand refresh, Simplyhealth is re-introducing the famous Denplan apple as part of its logo.

Brand changes will take place immediately and implemented across all of marketing by the end of 2020.

Caroline Coleman will also step down as managing director of Simplyhealth at the end of the year.

Simplyhealth is reviewing how its health businesses operates and has made a number of key changes to its leadership team.

London Dentistry Show a huge success

The London Dentistry Show welcomed thousands of delegates to Olympia on Friday and Saturday last week.

Doors opened to queues of dentists and professionals eager to hear from leading speakers and manufacturers in the profession.

Along with this, the show offered attendees the opportunity to gain nine hours of enhanced CPD, all completely for free.

Registration for the 2020 London Dentistry Show, on the 18 and 19 September, has already opened.

Next year promises is an event you won’t want to miss.

No matter what your specialty or focus, there is something there for you.

Designed to Smile celebrates 10 years improving children’s oral health

Designed to Smile

Designed to Smile, the Welsh oral health scheme aimed at improving children’s oral health, is celebrating its 10th birthday.

Since its launch in 2009, tooth decay in five-year-old Welsh children has dropped by more than 10%.

There has also been a 35% reduction in the number of children undergoing dental procedures under general anaesthesia.

The British Dental Association (BDA) Wales is using the opportunity to urge the government not to rest on its laurels.

It highlights concerns that Designed to Smile is taking budget away from treating older children.

Several health boards have stopped offering fluoride varnish applications to six to seven-year-olds, BDA Wales claims.

Your chance to win a £50 Amazon gift voucher

We’re giving you the chance to win a £50 Amazon gift voucher, simply by filling in a short survey.

To help keep up with the ever-evolving world of digital dentistry, we’re looking for your views on the future of dentistry.

Simply fill in a short survey, which will take less than a minute, and one lucky winner could get a £50 Amazon voucher.

Enquiries to the Dental Complaints Service increases

The Dental Complaints Service (DCS) received 2,159 enquiries from dental patients in 2018, a jump from 1,845 in the previous year.

Despite this rise, the number of fitness to practise referrals from these calls plummeted by 83% to 57 cases.

The rest of the enquiries were either outside the DCS remit (46%), passed onto NHS England (26%), Scotland (1%) and Wales (2%) or dealt with by the DCS (23%).

The percentage of complaints the DCS received were:

  • Braces (18.1%)
  • Crowns (13.5%)
  • Partial denture (10.1%)
  • Full denture (9.9%)
  • Implants (9.5%)
  • Bridges (7.2%)
  • Root canal treatment (6.4%)
  • Amalgam filling (6%)
  • Composite filling (4.8%)
  • Veneers (4.8%)
  • Inlay (0.2%)
  • Other (9.5%).

Missed last week’s news? Catch up here.

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