Nuffield Trust response to proposals to improve dental care for those with most urgent needs

Commenting on the government’s proposals to improve dental care for people with the most urgent needs, Thea Stein, Chief Executive of the Nuffield Trust, said:

“Two years ago we warned that NHS dentistry was gone for good: decades of policy failure, worsening problems in accessing a dentist and growing inequalities in oral health caused NHS dentistry to be at its most perilous point in 75 years. The outdated dental contract has been part of the problem, unhelpfully incentivising dentists to focus on individual units of activity – like filling teeth – at the expense of a wider, more holistic approach to preventing poor oral health.

“Today’s announcements show that the government recognises that approach is broken – and will rightly change it for some key groups of patients. But they amount to tweaks to the dental contract to help people who will often have been failed by the sorry state of NHS dentistry in general. More funding for emergency care will be a mandate for desperate measures for those shut out too long.

“Fundamental contract reform – which the government have promised – must follow the initiatives announced today. But for it to restore universal NHS dentistry, it would also require billions in additional funding each year. With that not on the cards, we need a bold approach that sets out clearly for whom NHS dentistry is to be prioritised.”