June 2010

Objectives To describe a method used in a health equity audit (HEA) of oral health and National Health Service (NHS) General Dental Services. Methods Need, demand and provision of NHS General Dental Services were estimated by electoral ward using readily available data. Need was estimated using five-year-old dmft data. Scheduled and unscheduled demand were differentiated; scheduled demand was estimated using NHS dental registration data and unscheduled demand using emergency clinic and NHS Direct call activity data. Provision was estimated using self-declared dentist NHS hours and NHS Units of Dental Activity practice allocations. All variables were correlated with socioeconomic deprivation in each electoral ward, estimated by rates of receipt of Income Support. Setting Sheffield, England. Results Estimated need in electoral wards varied and correlated positively with increasing socio-economic deprivation. Scheduled demand tended to be lower and unscheduled demand higher in more deprived wards. Estimates of NHS General Dental Service provision indicated marginally higher provision in more deprived wards, though the correlation was weak. A synthesis of the findings estimated where need was least well met by provision. Conclusion A HEA of oral health and NHS General Dental Services can be undertaken using readily available data. However, data used to estimate need, demand or provision may have to change for future audits as the data routinely collected changes. Key words: Audit, demand, dental service provision, deprivation, equity, need