A top Hampshire health boss has said more complex dentistry cases have led to delays reviewing patients who suffer from long-standing dental needs.

James Roach, director of primary care at the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, which plans NHS services, told the Hampshire County Council health and care committee that the service deals with patients with long-standing dental care needs.

“It’s a lot more complex, and the average time of reviewing patients has increased due to that complexity being addressed,” he said.

However, despite the increased average time, the service has seen a “positive” rise in the number of residents and children attending NHS dentists in the region, with 4,400 residents accessing a dentist in the last 12 months.

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“Over the last 12 months, 4,400 residents have seen a dentist in the Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The majority of those have been children under 18, which is positive in terms of extending our services to children and ensuring we have the right focus on their immediate dental needs.

“It is positive to see an increase. However, more access doesn’t mean the practice is clinically manageable for NHS services across our county and the ICB, and we are addressing them.

“We are working within the national plan framework to improve dental access that has been more investment. One of the things we are looking at is a dental academy at the University of Portsmouth in terms of training and retaining our dentistry workforce.”

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He said that “open” and “pragmatic” conversations between private dental practices and the ICB are allowing them to extend services for residents.

“We’ve got a better relationship with dental providers at the moment. What I have seen across the ICB is a more open and pragmatic conversation with some of our private providers in terms of why they need to provide more NHS services, what support they would need to extend that and how we move forward.”

Speaking about the mobile dental service, Mr Roach said that this year, around 700 patients with long-standing dentistry needs were served by the mobile services, which offered 200 treatments for those patients.

The dental van provided multiple services, such as X-rays, fillings, extractions, and dentures and will be extended to Basingstoke in the following months.

He said: “General feedback is good. Hampshire and the Isle of Wight have seen one of the systems nationally to put the hands of this and crack on in the right framework.”

However, taking into consideration the “good feedback” and the benefits for residents, Cllr Alex Dowden asked why there are not more mobile units in the region and even more in areas of deprivation where NHS dentists are not accessible, which in some cases prevent people from seeing a dentist for more than ten years.

“We are committed to moving forward. In our investment plan, we have a strategy and financial commitment to increase the number of mobile units across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.”