‘Driving uptake of sugar-free gum could help save dental services £194 million annually’

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We all know that oral health is a major concern for thousands of people across the country, with poor access to the nation’s struggling dental services leaving patients across the country paying the price.

According to national data, nearly a third of people (32%) in England have reported feeling stressed or anxious about the state of their oral health, and over half of people (55%) have noticed increased difficulty in accessing dental services since the pandemic. 

This crisis in accessing dental services is seeing people take dangerous measures: a recent survey of dental professionals found that 70% have seen an increase in patients attempting ‘DIY dentistry’ as a result of limited access to professional dental treatment. 

While the extent of this issue varies across the country – with some regions such as East Anglia now known as ‘dental deserts’ due to the scarcity of NHS dental services – this difficulty in accessing dentistry is impacting people’s daily lives and the economy nationwide: 1-in-5 adults under the age of 35 have reported missing at least two weeks of work due to oral health problems. 

Sugar-free gum can reduce incidence of cavities

With 94% of dental professionals agreeing that the UK is facing a crisis in dental care, it’s clear that they need support to get services back on their feet.

Faced with these challenges, we all need to play our part in taking preventative action that can make a meaningful difference in improving the nation’s oral health. The Government’s announcement on the rollout of a supervised toothbrushing programme for children should help save dental services £34m over the next five years.  

Building on this move, there are other preventative oral health tools at our disposal, such as expanding water fluoridation and chewing sugar-free gum.

Economic analysis from Frontier Economics has shown another £194m could be saved annually if more people chewed sugar-free gum, representing a significant cost saving while also helping to improve the nation’s oral health. When chewed as part of a good oral health routine, sugar-free gum can help reduce the incidence of cavities by 28%. Reinvesting this annual £194m saving could help fund an additional 5.5 million patient check-ups for those who need them most. 

The case for prevention goes beyond cost savings

78% of dental professionals say that they are already recommending sugar-free gum to their patients, but there is scope to go further. The Government’s Delivering Better Oral Health guidelines should be explicitly recommending sugar-free gum – because the nation’s oral health cannot afford to let the preventative benefits of this tool fall by the wayside.

Preventing poor oral health in the first place can make a valuable contribution to managing demand for services, helping our dentistry and wider health services to recover by reducing the number of preventable cases they are dealing with.

The case for prevention goes beyond cost savings – such as reducing the risk of disease and boosting people’s self-confidence. It’s crucial that we recognise the benefits offered by preventative oral health measures so that more people can live happier and healthier lives, without their oral health becoming a source of stress or incurring additional costs.

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