THE poor state of the economy has been blamed for a drop in people visiting the dentists in Darlington.

Health bosses have said that for many families in the town suffering financial difficulties a course of dental treatment may be prohibitively expensive.

However, they are looking at ways to encourage more families to access dental treatment and have said there are still dental practices across the town accepting NHS patients.

The figures were revealed at a report to Darlington Borough Council’s Health and Partnerships Scrutiny Committee by Dr David Landes, deputy director of public health for County Durham and Darlington.

He was invited following a meeting of the committee last month where it was discovered that children’s dental health in the borough was declining rather than improving.

According to a survey done in 2008/09, the number of children under the age of 12 with decayed teeth was more than 40 per cent, the second worst in the region behind Middlesbrough.

Dr Landes said this was partly due to some local authorities using fluoridated water and said this was something the council might want to look at in more detail.

However, his figures also showed that prior to school age, a large proportion of young people, around 54 per cent were not visiting the dentists. A figure which went down dramatically once the youngsters started going to school.

They also showed that between 2009/10 and 2010/11 the number of people visiting the dentists had gone down, sometimes by more than 10 per cent in some age brackets.

Dr Landes said: “This is probably a reflection of the economic times. We’re in economic tightened times.

“If you need a course of treatment and you’re not exempt, the current fee is £47 and it’s a considerable amount of money and it could be nearer £100 if you’re with the family.

“We’re promoting informal sessions, so at least if people are not exempt they’re not going to have that potentially embarrassing discussion in the waiting room.”

Initiatives such as open days for children and funding for practices to work out in the community were also being set up to improve access for youngsters.

Coun Alan Macnab said: “I find it an absolute scandal that people who have paid into National Insurance contributions for years and years are being denied free treatment for them and their family.”

Dr Landes said there were still a number of practices in the town which were accepting NHS patients and the number of NHS dentists had risen since five years ago.