There is some good workforce news. Following the registration renewal period for dentists, the GDC reports that the total number of dentists has risen by 3%. The morning after removals, there were 45,580 dentists on the Register representing a 3.10% increase when compared to the same time in 2024.
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With Wes Streeting‘s ‘deaths door‘ comment about the state of NHS dentistry, and the BDA‘s series of last chance saloon warnings, it would be easy to conclude that the game was up for NHS dentistry.
Read more: Positive NHS Dentistry News, Fighting Back or Last Hurrah?
A petition bearing over 258,000 signatures demanding action to address the dental crisis was delivered to Keir Starmer in Downing Street last week.
British Dental Association Chair Eddie Crouch was accompanied by, amongst others Consultant Tom Thayer, oral cancer patient and survivor Anthony Page, Women‘s Institute representative Camilla Revell. Three MPs, two Labour and one LibDem, joined the profession and patient representatives.
Read more: 258,000 Signatures Dentistry Petition Handed In To Downing Street
After record-breaking delays, and clearly very careful consideration, Ministers have now approved yet another real terms pay reduction for dentists in England.
Read more: BDA Inform Profession - NHS Dentistry Pay is CUT AGAIN
British expatriates in France at risk of becoming homesick, can take comfort in one aspect of life in the UK that is still available in their new home.
Secretary of State for Health & Social Care, Wes Streeting, has hinted that in addition to contract reform, NHS dentistry could receive more funding as his department reviews its budget.
Millions of patients unable to access an NHS dentist either for an emergency or to receive ongoing care are finding the cost of seeing a private dentist increasingly prohibitive, a new analysis shows. So serious is the problem that The Guardian used the crisis as its New Year‘s Eve front page lead story.
Read more: Private Dentistry 'Increasingly Prohibitive' For Wannabe NHS Patients
The reach of private equity in dentistry has not been limited to involvement in the larger corporate groups of practices. Private equity firm KKR & Co Inc has taken a large stake in Henry Schein [NASDAQ:HSIC] and reached a deal to add members to the company‘s board.
After the 2024 election there seemed to be smiles all round when senior BDA and Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) representatives first met. Little more than six months later that seems a distant memory. Figures on both sides might be wondering just what went wrong.