A Kent dental practice has told its NHS patients they must join a payment plan or find another dentist. Integrated Dental Holdings (IDH) in Thanet, said it would provide NHS treatment until the end of August. When the company took over Associated Dental Practices the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) ruled that they had too much of the local market share.

New research shows that six out of every ten people aged 55 and over in the UK regret not looking after their teeth in earlier life, with people living in the North East of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland the most likely to regret their past oral hygiene. The findings have been published by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF).

A recent survey shows that purchases of intra oral cameras and intra oral digital sensors are increasing year on year. The research also revealed that almost three quarters of dentists have practice management software installed. Appointment making and patient record management are the activities for which most other computers within the surgery are used.

According to research publiched by the British Dental Health Foundation (BDHF) over 2 million people in the UK say they have taken time of work due to poor oral health. According to BDHF chief executive Dr Nigel Carter OBE, the findings do not come as a great surprise. "Government statistics show that a quarter of all adults have not visited a dentist in the past two years and a similar number only brush their teeth once a day,” he says.

Dentists across England must resist the bullying tactics of Primary Care Trust dental commissioning staff, General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC) Chair Dr John Milne has urged. Speaking at the LDC Conference he told delegates he was appalled at suggestions that some PCTs were challenging perfectly acceptable treatment patterns in an attempt to claw back money, using a veiled threat that practitioners might be referred to the GDC as a stick with which to beat them.