A new survey of the orthodontic workforce has found that there is a shortage of specialist orthodontists in the UK with some parts of the country experiencing a high ratio of patients to specialist.

Of the 1,660 providers of orthodontic treatment in the UK, 919 are specialists, who treat on average 400 cases per year compared to 187 cases per year for non-specialists. One fifth of the orthodontic workforce is due to retire in the next six years and 66 of the number due to retire are hospital-based consultants, of whom there is already a shortage.

The areas where it is most difficult to see an orthodontic specialist are Shropshire and Staffordshire, Essex, Kent and Medway, County Durham and Tees Valley, Trent and North and East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. These are the areas with the highest ratio of 12-year-olds to orthodontic specialist, 12 being the optimum age for treatment. The report added that nearly 10 per cent of orthodontists would need to be relocated to even out the distribution of specialists to 12-year-olds, but this would still leave an overall shortage.

The National Orthodontic Workforce Survey was carried out by members of the Department of Oral Health and Development in the University of Sheffield's School of Clinical Dentistry. It was called for by the British Orthodontic Society (BOS) and supported by a grant from the Chief Dental Officer.

The authors of the report also assessed the gender of the workforce. This was partly in the light of a Department of Health review of women practitioners in the general dental workforce which showed that approximately 22 per cent of respondents were not practising dentistry and nearly half work part-time only.

However, the survey showed that the picture in the orthodontic specialty was very different. The mean number of sessions worked by women was only slightly less than that of men (7.2 sessions as compared to 8.2) with more male providers than females planning to retire in the next 15 years. The survey predicted that as the present generation of predominantly male senior orthodontists retires the proportion of female orthodontists will increase dramatically.

BOS Secretary David Tidy said: “We welcome the main conclusion of the report which supports earlier concerns based on anecdotal evidence regarding the geographical inequality in specialist workforce and the shortage of training places. We would emphasise the need for measures to be taken at the earliest opportunity to address these issues.”

However, he added that the report failed to consider the shortage of academics in orthodontics who were crucial in both training and to the future of orthodontic services.