The challenge of recruiting dentists to relocate to rural areas like Shropshire is partly to blame for patient backlogs, health bosses said.
The county's health and wellbeing board has been told about the problems facing dentistry since the pandemic.
Addressing board members, Darrell Jackson, senior commissioning manager for NHS England, said the pandemic had had a “dramatic impact on dentistry”. Mr Jackson said practices were still dealing with huge backlogs, resulting in patients struggling to book appointments. “That figure is currently sitting at 48.3 per cent, so we have got some way to go to get back to where we were.
He added: “We have established the Golden Hello scheme for the Midlands, and we have particularly targeted rural and coastal areas and Shropshire was included in that. Councillor Cecilia Motley for Corvedale, cabinet member for adult social care, public health and communities, said: “I represent a very rural division in Shropshire and I am interested in the problems of rurality in dentistry.
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