The state of NHS dental care in the island has been laid bare in an answer to a written Tynwald question.

For some time now, people in the Isle of Man have struggled to register with an NHS dentist with many having to turn to private care. It has even proven difficult to register to get on the waiting list.

Now, the extent of the problem has been revealed after Health and Social Care Minister Lawrie Hooper answered a question from Douglas North MHK David Ashford on how many people are on the NHS waiting list.

As of March 2020, 953 were waiting for an NHS dentist which rose to 2,614 in 2021 before a slight dip the following year to 2,580. It then rose sharply in 2023 to 3,715 and again in 2024 to 5,332.

In terms of patients allocated an NHS dentist place, there were 2,541 placed in the financial year 2021-22 which more than halved the following year to 1,197 and then more than halved again in 2023-24 to only 520 patients getting allocated.

In his response, Mr Hooper said: ‘The dental waiting list was cleared in 2018-2019 and Primary Care Services commenced the financial year 2019-2020 with a zero waiting list balance.

‘This was following an exercise whereby dental contractors were paid additional funds to take patients to assist in clearing the waiting list.

‘Since 2020 a total of 4,259 patients have been allocated from the dental waiting list.

‘Allocations from the waiting list are made when NHS dental practices inform Manx Care, they have capacity to take more patients. Some practices have not taken new patients from the list since 2021.

‘Manx Care regularly requests NHS dental practices to cleanse their patient lists to create capacity.

‘The future of dental contracting arrangements is currently under review with Manx Care and the DHSC whereby discussions are taking place in terms of funding and demand for services.’

In June, Mr Hooper said he wouldn't be in favour of restricting who can go on an NHS dentist's list in the Isle of Man.

Last year, Manx Care revealed it was considering introducing eligibility criteria in a bid to tackle the waiting list.

He also said last year it was difficult to recruit and retain dentists to the island, explaining that wages are determined by private contractors who run their own firms and cannot be set by government. He said the number of dentists was an issue across the whole of the British Isles.