Plans by the Government to overhaul the NHS dental contract have stalled, the British Dental Association has warned.
Dr Eddie Crouch, the BDA’s chair, told GDPUK there was a now ‘real concern’ that Labour would not commit to their pledge to ‘fundamentally reform’ the contract by the end of this Parliament, by 2029 at the latest.
Dr Crouch said he had met with the minister for dentistry James Frith two weeks ago who confirmed there would be a delay while he took ‘stock’ and evaluated recent changes to the contract.
These include the focus on providing urgent and unscheduled care, introduced in April, and the ‘complex care pathways’ to improve care for patients with advanced decay or disease, which took effect from June.
Dr Crouch told GDPUK, ‘It appears to have stalled, there is no sign of a public consultation in the near future. It would appear that the new ministerial team want to evaluate things first.
‘There may be a real concern that the Labour Government won't back up their manifesto pledge to reform the contract within their term of office.
‘I think it’s because of the economic situation that they find themselves in. How are you going to improve something if you’re not going to invest more money into it?’
‘We had a meeting with James Frith a couple of weeks ago. He basically said he wanted to take stock. I think he will be getting messages from civil servants that the changes they made in April and June need to settle in.’
‘I think that’s a huge mistake. The exodus from NHS dentistry continues. Most dentists that we survey don’t see their long-term future in the NHS. Unless there is a significant big bang with a significant improvement, the service is only going to get smaller and smaller.’
Reforming NHS dentistry was a key part of Labour’s election-winning manifesto in 2024 which promised a ‘dentistry rescue plan’ to focus on prevention, and recruiting and retaining NHS dentists.
The promise was repeated in the Government’s 10 Year Health Plan for England, unveiled in July 2025, which committed to transforming NHS dentistry.
The existing dental contract, introduced over 20 years ago in April 2006, has been criticised by the BDA and other experts for prioritising targets ahead of care and fuelling the crisis in NHS dentistry.
The extent of this crisis was highlighted in a report by the Nuffield Trust in August which found that 600 dental practices in England had withdrawn from NHS dentistry since 2017.
Nigel Jones, strategy director at Practice Plan, a major provider of practice-branded dental plans told GDPUK: ‘We’ve gone past the 20-year anniversary of the contract which, almost immediately after it was implemented, people were saying how ridiculous it was.
‘Every major party has said this contract needs to be completely overhauled. They’ve been saying it for at least 18 years so the fact that nothing’s changed shows how difficult it is to change. But they are running out of time.’
Chris Groombridge, chief executive of East Riding local dental committee said, ‘The longer contract reform is can-kicked, the harder it will be to make NHS dentistry sustainable.’
The Department of Health and Social Care were approached for comment.