The Government has pledged that everyone in England will have access to a dentist within four years.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock, responsible for dentistry, committed to reforming the NHS dental contract before this Parliament ends. His announcement comes as a victory for the Mirror’s “Dentists for All” campaign.
Currently, most NHS dental practices in England are not accepting new patients. Millions of people struggle to find a dentist.
“We are on a burning platform,” Kinnock told MPs on the Health and Social Care Select Committee. “We have a moral duty to fix NHS dentistry in this country. It is shocking that tooth decay is the main reason children aged 5 to 9 are taken to hospital for surgery. Tooth decay is almost entirely preventable.”
The British Dental Association (BDA) has called the current NHS dental contract “perverse.” It discourages dentists from treating patients with the greatest needs because those cases cause financial losses.
Last week’s Ten Year Health Plan caused concern by suggesting that major reform of the dental contract would not happen until after the next General Election. The plan only promised a new contract by 2035 as part of a “transformed” NHS system.
Kinnock was clear: “We must fix this before the end of this Parliament. We want transformed NHS dentistry by 2035, but the crucial contract reform must begin now. Everyone needing urgent or unplanned care must be able to get it. Dentists must be motivated and rewarded to provide NHS dentistry.”
This commitment comes as the Mirror published reports from Devon, one of the country’s worst areas for dental care. The reports show how underfunding is pushing dentists to leave the NHS for private work. Children suffer pain while waiting for multiple teeth to be removed.
However, Kinnock said the Treasury is reluctant to fund radical reform. Any new contract will likely rely on existing “underspends,” meaning dentists must return unused funds because of the flawed system.
The total NHS dental budget for England is £3 billion. This only covers care for about half the population. Over the past decade, the budget fell from £3.6 billion, a real-terms cut of about one third, according to the BDA.
Under the current system, practices are paid per Unit of Dental Activity (UDA). A check-up earns one UDA, while a filling earns three. Practices receive about £40 per UDA. For extra emergency appointments, payments increase to between £70 and £75.