The number of people being treated per dentist in Hampshire has reduced in the last year, against the national trend.

The number of patients per dentist had increased from data recorded for Hampshire in 2014-2015, but reduced from 2,151 patients per NHS dentist in 2020/21 to 2,036 in 2021/22.

Despite this, the percentage of adults seen by an NHS dentist in Hampshire fell from 40.4 per cent in 2021 to 35.9 per cent in 2022.

The percentage of children seen by a dentist had fallen significantly from 61 per cent before the pandemic to 35.8 per cent in 2021, although this rose in 2022 to 48.2 per cent.

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Fewer than half of children saw a dentist in the past year in England, with MPs warning parts of the country have become “dental deserts”.

Data commissioned by the Liberal Democrats found there are as many as 3,000 people per NHS dentist in some English areas.

Commons Library research commissioned by the Lib Dems showed that fewer than one in two (44 per cent) children saw an NHS dentist in the last year, while just one third of adults saw an NHS dentist in the past two years. Nationally there are an average of 2,330 people per NHS dentist in England.

The British Dental Association (BDA) said its own data indicated that hundreds of dentists were undertaking the equivalent of a single NHS check-up a year.

Eddie Crouch, the association’s chairman, said: “Dental deserts are on the rise, but the true scale of the exodus from the NHS is going untracked in official data.

“The Prime Minister keeps boasting of 500 ‘new’ dentists in the NHS. The reality is we have 500 doing a single check-up a year. We need a reality check from government, together with honesty, ambition and investment.”

A spokesperson for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board said: "The ICB is working closely with NHS England as part of the transition of responsibility for NHS dentistry commissioning. The opportunity to bring these responsibilities into the ICB means we will be able to provide a local focus on commissioning dentistry to help address local needs.

"We know our residents continue to struggle to access dental services, and this is partly due to recruitment challenges in dentistry. 

"We are keen to work with local partners and dentist providers to help us to make improvements and find solutions. We have also worked with our local Healthwatches to review the feedback they have received from patients."