In the Welsh Parliament, James Evans MS called on Mark Drakeford to expand dental provision into schools to guarantee children dental care.
Evans said, “in my constituency, accessing a dentist is extremely difficult and even if you get a dentist, the travelling times to those dentists can be very lengthy.”
He went on to ask, “will the First Minister look at bringing mobile dentists into schools, so we can actually have them in the schools, so they can get the check-ups they need to ensure that their oral health is in good condition?”
First Minister Mark Drakeford responded by saying that the Health Minister would be making a statement on dental services in a fortnight’s time, and that the statement would touch on “ideas for dealing with dental services in rural areas and the possibility of mobile dentistry in secondary schools.”
Recently, the British Dental Association conducted polling which said the “overwhelming majority of dentists say the Welsh Government's approach to reform of NHS dentistry is failing.”
James said:
“We all know that good oral health leads to the overall good health and wellbeing of our children.
“The Labour Welsh Government have been failing on dental services – this is bad enough for adults but has an even bigger negative impact on our children.
“I want to see dental provision in schools, so children are guaranteed good quality dental care.”
