The Press and Healthwatch Digest Contract Reforms
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- Published: Tuesday, 23 December 2025 09:36
- Written by Peter Ingle
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Within the profession there is a growing suspicion that getting DIY dentistry stories off of the headlines is the driving aspiration of The Department of Health and Social Care, and has shaped the latest set of reforms.
A glance at the GDPUK inbox shows why the government felt it had to act, and the initial response to the proposed changes
On December 15th press releases about the latest set of contract reforms started arriving, though they were embargoed until the next day. The same day, these were just some of the other, more familiar, dental stories appearing:
The Guardian ran a story with the headline “People pulling own teeth due to lack of urgent NHS dental care in England, watchdog finds.” This covered the latest Healthwatch England report showing that people in pain were unable to get appointments and in some cases having to travel over 100 miles for treatment. Others were resorting to DIY dentistry and taking antibiotics that had been prescribed for other conditions, or to other people.The online paper’s sidebar carried a link to another Guardian story about UK dentistry: “Plan to increase access to NHS dentists in England ‘a complete failure’, MPs say.” That story dated back to April 2025 when the blame was laid at the Conservative government’s initiatives.
The Healthwatch report was not the only dental news item. The Express ran a story headlined
“Britain in grip of deadly dental crisis government warned.” It went on to describe the increase in numbers of patients needing emergency treatment for dental infections, “so advanced they have blocked airways, facial swelling and sepsis”. The Express quoted the BDA and referenced the recent Adult Dental Health survey’s finding that the nation’s oral health was in decline. Following the feature there were links to no less than 17 other dental stories 6 which directly related to the access crisis.
The Independent had a different take on the state of UK dentistry with their item: “You’re not ugly you’re just poor. How teeth became Britain’s biggest class divide.” It was about, “the impossibility of getting a dentist.”
A day later, with the contract reforms made public, the Guardian’s headline was: “Dentists in England to be paid more for emergency NHS appointments.” This was somewhat undermined by the next line: “British Dental Association says government’s plan has ‘no new money behind it’ and further changes needed.”Chris McCann, the deputy chief executive of Healthwatch England, the source of the papers dental story the day before, was quoted, saying: “Short-term tweaks to the dental contract over recent years have failed to make major progress towards addressing the NHS dentistry crisis. Until data is published, it is also unclear how the government is progressing on its pledge to deliver 700,000 new urgent dental appointments.”
Sky News’ story was headed “Dentists to be paid more to see urgent patients” with the only criticism of the reforms coming from think tank, Policy Exchange.The Telegraph also led with the increased payments for seeing urgent patients, but did quote Shiv Pabary of the BDA, asking for more.
Similar headlines featuring the increased payments to dentists were used by The Times and LBC, while The Mirror took some of the credit for what it described as, “Major change to NHS dentistry (which) will help urgent patients as millions miss out on care.”
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