James Wild, MP for North Norfolk has visited Community Dental Services CIC (CDS) St James’ clinic in Kings Lynn to meet with Chief Executive, Helen Paisley and members of the Executive and local teams.
During a tour of the clinic, Mr Wild heard about dental provision for individuals with complex needs in his constituency and discussed current issues affecting NHS dentistry. The visit also highlighted the work being delivered by CDS across Norfolk to improve access to care and promote prevention, especially among children and new projects to support the oral health of older people in care homes.
Tooth decay remains the leading cause of hospital admissions among children in England - a situation that CDS is actively working to reverse through intervention and community-driven solutions. Local supervised toothbrushing programmes in early years settings were discussed, alongside prevention-based initiatives created by CDS to improve the oral health of the ‘Covid Generation’ of young children who have struggled to access dental care.
The visit was also an opportunity to explore CDS’s solutions to addressing dental recruitment challenges in Norfolk, often described as a “dental desert”. These include the introduction of dental fellowships, which merge employment with postgraduate training, and have proven to be an attractive option for young dental professionals at the beginning of their careers.
James Wild MP said:
"Improved access to dental services is one of my key priorities and I was impressed by the work of Community Dental Services at their St James' clinic. Their innovative support for over 2,000 patients with complex needs a year, prevention initiatives for children including supervised brushing in early years settings, and community-driven programmes such as dental fellowships scheme are making a positive difference.
I will be encouraging Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board to continue to work closely with CDS to boost these successful models and adopt a flexible commissioning approach to improve access to dental care in our area.”
Helen Paisley, Chief Executive of CDS, said:
“We were delighted to welcome James to our Kings Lynn clinic, which has recently been upgraded to enhance the care we offer to patients, many with complex needs requiring specialist equipment. It was also valuable to discuss the challenges surrounding dental services in Norfolk and nationwide. We appreciate the involvement of MPs like James in raising awareness of the difficulties constituents face in accessing dental care, and we welcomed the chance to explain how we are developing new approaches to improve access and deliver care where it is most needed.”
CDS is a referral only dental service for patients who typically have complex additional needs such as learning disabilities, severe autism or children with high levels of dental disease, or who are in situations that traditional dental care cannot reach for example housebound patients and those who are homeless.
