BDA Northern Ireland has welcomed an announcement by the Department of Health to establish two new groups focusing on the oral health of children and the elderly in Northern Ireland. However, any action will need to be accompanied by adequate investment and a commitment to address the needs of the dental workforce if it is to be successful.

Chief Dental Officer Simon Reid made the announcement speaking at a BDA Oral health matters symposium at Stormont on 17 October, a landmark event calling for a new vision for oral health in Northern Ireland. The day attracted a capacity crowd of key stakeholders including Health Spokespersons of the main political parties, the Older Person's Commissioner, policymakers, advocates, leading public health organisations and charities.

BDA Northern Ireland has campaigned over many years for action to deliver improved oral health outcomes in Northern Ireland in particular for children and the elderly. The current Oral Health Strategy is now 12 years old, having been launched in 2007.

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L-R: Roz McMullan, Simon Reid, Caroline Lappin, Michael Donaldson

According to the latest Child Dental Health Survey which was published in 2015, just 19% of 15-year olds here were considered to have 'good oral health'. In 2017/18 almost 5,000 (4,724) children faced tooth extraction under General Anaesthetic (GA) in Northern Ireland (x3 times pro-rata than England).

BDA Northern Ireland has also highlighted the mounting pressures on dentists to meet the mounting challenges from a growing ageing population that is increasingly retaining some natural teeth into old age.

The Commissioner for Older People for Northern Ireland recently called for urgent improvements to be made to oral care provision for older people in Northern Ireland alongside the Children's Commissioner who has called for more to be done to tackle oral health inequalities to give children the best start in life.

BDA NI Council Caroline Lappin said: 'The news that two new Oral Health Options groups are to be established by the Department of Health focussing on how to best address the significant oral health challenges we face, is welcome news. We want to work towards improved oral health outcomes for the most vulnerable cohorts of our population.

'These new focus groups give dentists an opportunity to work collaboratively with Department of Health and HSCB colleagues to generate ideas to deliver much needed advances in the population's oral health. Today's announcement builds on the important groundwork done by the BDA, DoH and HSCB to get us to this point.

'The pressing needs of the local dental workforce will have to be factored in if this work is to ultimately succeed. Our community dental service is already unable to meet the existing demand for oral health care - while general dental practitioners are increasingly struggling to make health service dentistry a financially viable proposition. Whatever options are generated, additional investment to bolster oral health in Northern Ireland will be necessary. Going forward, improving oral health must be viewed as integral to embedding the prevention agenda, and delivering wider public health benefits to the population.'