European dentists swell numbers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/s...032595,00.html

European dentists swell numbers

Press Association
Wednesday August 23, 2006 11:28 AM

The number of dentists in England has surged following an influx from
Eastern Europe, according to new figures.

Nearly half the 2,200 new NHS dentists last year had trained abroad -
the highest proportion for a decade - and 17% were from Poland.

Overall foreign dentists made up over a fifth of the 21,111
practitioners working in the country in the 12 months to the end of
March.

The rise followed the accession of Poland and seven other states to the
European Union in May 2004.

The increase in dentists - up 28% since 1997 - also appears to have
allowed more people to register.

Data published by the NHS information centre shows that the number of
people on the books of an NHS practitioner rose by 500,000 - a 2.4%
hike year-on-year.

Just under half the population of England (45% of adults and 64% of
children) were registered with an NHS dentist.

Youngsters are also receiving more courses of treatment, up from 6.1
million in 2004 to 7.4 million in 2006.

However, treatments for adults has fallen from 27 million to 25.8
million over the same period.

The figures include all dentists who were registered with a Primary
Care Trust (PCT) by March 31. Practitioners usually agree with the PCT
how much NHS treatment they will perform, but in some cases they only
carry out private work.

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved.