UK dental care for children - a specialist workforce analysis

Introduction The main specialties involved with the treatment of children in the UK are paediatric dentistry and orthodontics. In December 2019, these accounted for approximately 38% of all specialists listed by the General Dental Council (GDC). Recent evidence of difficulties filling specialist NHS job posts and the absence of specialists in some UK postal areas suggests a demographic analysis of these specialties is timely.Aims To gather data and help contribute towards assessing the need for future specialist training places by mapping GDC-listed specialists registered in UK postal areas and plotting specialists' first GDC registration dates.Method The data were obtained from the GDC.Results In ten years' time, approximately 40% (n = 92) of currently registered specialists in paediatric dentistry and 37% (n = 487) of specialists in orthodontics will be aged 60 years or over. Forty-four percent (n = 54) of 124 UK postal areas had no specialist in paediatric dentistry while 2% (n = 3) had no specialist in orthodontics.Conclusion Demographic profiling can be compiled from data available to the public. This is likely to be of interest for those responsible for specialist workforce planning and funding NHS specialist dental care for children.