Conservative Policy Makers Turn to Dentistry
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- Published: Friday, 12 December 2025 10:20
- Written by Peter Ingle
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As His Majesty‘s Opposition in the House of Commons begin to emerge from their post-election doldrums, one sign of renewed confidence is that the Conservatives have begun to talk about dentistry.
NHS dentistry is still making headlines for all the wrong reasons, and to date the new administration has little to show in terms of delivering the promised improvements. The influential Conservative Home website has now published a piece that demonstrates that what was once a target on the Conservative’s back, is now a political opportunity.
“Why dental reform must be a Conservative priority” was written by Lachlan Bruce, a policy and public affairs manager at a British health charity, and Conservative councillor.
He starts with his opinion that for the majority, their experience of the NHS is not centred on complex treatments or major surgery. The day to day issues are much more mundane: getting a GP appointment, being seen in A&E within a reasonable time, and being able to see a dentist. Lachlan Bruce describes dentistry as “a clear symbol of state failure” and refers to the increase in DIY dentistry by those unable to access care. His conclusion from this is simple: “If we want to restore public trust in government and demonstrate our party’s ability to deliver the fundamentals then fixing dentistry is a good starting point.”
Mr Bruce asserts that Dentistry is not optional healthcare, it is foundational, and dentistry cannot remain peripheral to the NHS’s core mission. He see the contracts as a major barrier to access, observing that, “Every UK nation has its own dental contract and each faces serious problems.”
He focusses on the English one, ”because its contract structure most clearly illustrates the underlying issue: when incentives are wrong, access collapses. It caps care and penalises complexity.”
He then lists some of the criticisms that the profession has been making since well before the contract’s 2006 imposition. These include the problem of UDA bands penalising care for those with high needs, and the inflexibility of UDA targets. He notes the unsurprising result: “Newly qualified dentists conclude that a long-term NHS career isn’t viable.”
The contract, he writes, must be replaced with one that rewards meeting clinical need. He argues that reform of the contract should be rooted in Conservative core principles: “The market, personal responsibility and innovation. A reformed contract should use incentives that increase access, expand capacity and reward dentists for treating those with complex needs.”
In practice this would mean:
- Targeted incentives for taking on new NHS patients, especially in areas with the poorest access.
- Modernised, flexible contracts that remove activity caps.
- Responsible expansion of private insurance for routine or cosmetic care to free NHS capacity.
- Funding formulas based on need, not outdated historical allocations.
Lachlan Bruce manages to address the elephant in the room: “NHS dentistry spending works out at around £55 per person per year, barely enough for a single check-up.” He then admits that, “Conservatives should be honest: the state cannot treat everyone identically; it must focus limited resources on those with the greatest need, and the contract should reflect that.”
Moving to workforce issues the conclusions are that “outdated rules” must change to allow dental therapists and hygienists to take on more work.
His plan for a future Conservative policy will sound familiar to GDPUK readers, including, expansion of training places (with tie-ins), having all dental professionals working at the top of their scope, and mobile units for those communities where fixed practices are not viable.
There is then a call for prevention to reduce future demand, once again with reference to core values: “Taken together, our aim should be to strengthen personal responsibility, protect scarce resources, and help people stay healthy without expanding the state.”
Mr Bruce goes some way to recognising that his party may not be considered an exemplar in manging NHS dental care, when he writes of, “Restoring seriousness and rebuilding trust.”
His final conclusion is that: “Fixing dentistry alone will not win the next election. But it will demonstrate something vital: that the Conservative Party is serious again, ready to confront problems that have been ignored, to prioritise wisely and to deliver the essentials families rely on every day.”
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