MP: "Quite Honestly, NHS Dentists Are Saints"
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- Published: Sunday, 01 June 2025 22:55
- Written by Guy Tuggle
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GDPUK‘s Guy Tuggle looks on as MPs discuss NHS dentistry.
"You’re joking! Not another one!". The immortalised words of ’Brenda from Bristol’, famously spoken to a BBC reporter, on being told that Theresa May had called a general election in 2017, barely two years after the previous one.
Similar sentiments will doubtless have been expressed by dentists and their teams last week when it was announced that the House of Commons was going to debate NHS dentistry, or the lack of it. Again.
The motion, ’That this House has considered access to NHS dentistry’ was tabled by Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes MP Melanie Onn (LAB).
Ms Onn’s office told GDPUK that her office was being contacted by a high volume of constituents frustrated at not being able to find a dentist or worse, being taken off lists.
MPs are keen to point out that dentistry is a key driver of correspondence and the lack of NHS access regularly comes up on the doorstep. Yet despite the public’s concern, at one point there were only six Conservative MPs and perhaps twenty Labour ones in the chamber. And whilst the numbers ebbed and flowed, - the Lib Dem benches were reasonably populated - Reform MPs were nowhere to be seen.
"People are living in pain, they are missing work and their mental health is suffering. Some people are even attempting their own dental work, and we cannot allow that to become the norm" Ms Onn told the Chamber, as if anyone seated therein needed reminding.
As in previous debates, a succession of MPs bobbed up and down, eager to relay the experiences of Harold who pulled his own teeth, single mum Kylie who had to borrow money from her grandmother to fix her gums and war veteran Gordon who was unable to eat for days due to his ill-fitting dentures.
Most MPs resisted the temptation to drag party politics into the debate beyond denouncing the last government of complacency over fourteen years in power and kept things temperate and consensual.
Regular mention was made of the work being done by the British Dental Association to delve deep into the economics of delivering the despised dental contract, and Eddie Crouch’s briefings to MPs were certainly landing, with MPs demonstrating a high degree of informed understanding. Dentist bashing was notably absent.
"Practices are delivering NHS treatments at a loss: they lose over £42 for every denture fitted and nearly £8 for every new patient they see" Ms Onn told MPs, several of whom also wove these shocking figures into their own speeches.
"Dentistry is a highly skilled profession in which practitioners can charge colossal sums of money in private practice, which gives them a financial incentive to steer clear of working for the NHS" said Sir Julian Lewis (CON, New Forest East). "That is the root of the problem" he added.
The Minister for Secondary Care, Karin Smyth wound up for the government. She emphasised that the contract was being reformed, but provided no details.
“There are enough dentists in England, just not enough dentists willing to do enough NHS work” the Minister admitted before reminding MPs that the government had already set in train 700,000 additional emergency appointments and was promoting tooth brushing in schools.
’No Perfect Payment Models’
"I assure everyone here that development of these proposals (contract reform) is under way" Ms Smyth said. "We continue to work with the British Dental Association and other representatives to deliver our shared ambitions for dentistry. My hon. Friend the Minister for Care (Stephen Kinnok MP) met the BDA recently and they have a productive relationship" she confirmed.
But there was no quick fix. "In the spirit of honesty, let me be clear: there are no perfect payment models, and any changes to the complex dental system must be carefully considered, so that we deliver genuine improvements for patients and the profession" Ms Smyth said.
"It is an immense challenge. There are no quick fixes and no easy answers, but people across the country deserve better access, and we are determined to make that happen."
Dr Knows Best?
Earlier, the chamber heard what was perhaps one of the more original and thought provoking analyses. It came from Surgeon Commander Dr Andrew Murrison VR MP (CON, South West Wiltshire).
"Quite honestly, NHS dentists are saints" he began, adding "the reason why we do not have any NHS dentists is that it is far more remunerative to do expensive dental work than the sort of grinding service work that NHS dentistry implies" and laying the blame at the door of the contract.
He described what he considered a prolonged "conspiracy of silence" surrounding the dental access crisis.
Is Universality Realistic?
"What Government has to get to grips with is whether they intend that dentistry should continue to be a universal part of our NHS and whether it will be exempted from the universality that has characterised the provision of healthcare services in this country since 1948" Dr Murrison said.
"The Government could decide that dentistry is a bit like ophthalmic optics, which in the 1940s was deliberately excluded from NHS provision. I am not recommending that, but I am recommending to the Minister that we are at least honest with the public. At the moment, we have this pretence around NHS dentistry that says, “Of course you have the right to have your teeth fixed at no cost to you at all up front.” In reality, in most parts of the country, mine included, that is a complete fiction."
In throwing down the gauntlet, Dr Murrison gave voice to what many in the profession have acknowledged for years. And in a plea for honesty he concluded "Can we have some idea about what part of current NHS provision the Government intend to deprioritise, if that is their intention, to ensure that we have truly universal provision of NHS dentistry going forward?
Clearly the government and the BDA have much more to negotiate, but MPs are demonstrating that they ’get it’ and are urging the government both to provide more funds for dentistry, to move further and faster to agree a new contract with the profession, and to elevate dentistry’s standing within the NHS hierarchy. What is for certain is that Brenda in Bristol has not heard her last parliamentary debate on NHS dental access.
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