The uptake and completion of dental treatment using a mobile clinic in central Birmingham, UK

The provision of a mobile dental service at a primary school in a socially deprived, multi-ethnic area markedly increased the uptake and completion of treatment after a school dental inspection. Eighty one per cent of children who were offered treatment in the mobile clinic accepted it and 91 per cent of these completed it. In the previous year, when care was offered at a health centre within half a mile of the school, the corresponding figure was 43 and 4 per cent. Over half the children seen in the mobile clinic had not previously visited a dentist.