Dental checkups to become less frequent in England and Wales

Six-monthly appointments being scrapped for most adults to try to free up space for more NHS patients

The decades-old routine of visiting an NHS dentist for a six-month checkup is being scrapped across England and Wales for most adults as part of changes designed to address the dire lack of access to dental care for many people.

Wales has announced that most adults now only need to see their dentist once a year, which the government in Cardiff says will free up NHS dentists' time and allow them to take on more than 100,000 extra patients annually.