MOST dentists in Oxfordshire are not accepting new NHS patients, according to data from the national health service.

Dentists providing NHS treatment are listed online and practices are expected to keep their details up to date on the health service's website.

According to the NHS Find a Dentist online service, out of the 54 dentists listed online for 'Oxford', just two were clearly open to all NHS patients without a referral and three were open only to children aged under 18.

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The website showed that 15 dentists were only open to new NHS patients who have been referred, but referrals can only usually be made when a patient is already registered with a dentist.

The website also states that 21 dental practices had not recently updated their records to declare whether they are accepting new NHS patients.

Here's a map of the practices on the website listed under 'Oxford': 

NHS data also shows that during the pandemic only about a third of adults in Oxfordshire attended dental appointments as the coronavirus brought disruption.

There was a steep drop in people visiting the dentist in 2020 and 2021, with millions across the country missing check-ups and treatment.

The figures are proof that NHS dentistry is at the "last chance saloon" and in urgent need of reform, according to the British Dental Association.

The recent decline in NHS dentistry has been linked to health service contracts that see dentists paid similarly per unit of work – regardless of how complex that work is.

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In the two years to December 2021, 198,268 adults in Oxfordshire attended an appointment – the equivalent of 36 per cent of the population.

That is significantly down on the 24 months to December 2019 when 267,547 – 49 per cent – attended.

Data relating to children is recorded on an annual basis and shows that the volume of dentist visits, which declined significantly during the pandemic, showed signs of improvement last year.

Last year, 48 per cent of Oxfordshire's child population – 71,660 youngsters – saw their dentist, compared to 34 per cent in 2020 and 64 per cent in 2019.

Between March and June 2020, dental practices were instructed to close and defer routine, non-urgent dental care to limit the spread of the virus.

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According to the association, more than a year's worth of dentistry has been lost to the pandemic, with the association's research showing 40 million fewer courses of treatment were delivered between April 2020 and December 2021.

The association has urged the Government to deliver "meaningful and urgent reform" to the industry, saying underfunding, cuts and failed contracts had also contributed to the problems within the sector.