Ian Brack has been confirmed as the new permanent Chief Executive and Registrar of the General Dental Council (GDC), having been interim CEO since 11 January 2016. He said: “I have been struck by the commitment, dedication and enthusiasm I have witnessed at the GDC and how hard staff work to ensure we ultimately achieve our mission of protecting patients.”
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The price of private dental care in the UK varies dramatically by postcode, with a difference of 80% in price for routine check-ups across the country. The average cost for a simple check-up is now £51, an increase of a 42% compared to last year, and 11% in the past six months, according to new research released by a healthcare search engine.
Read more: Cost of private check-ups risen by 42% in past year
Liverpool City Council has launched a high-profile profile campaign entitled "Is your child's sweet tooth harming their health?" which will outline how many sugar cubes are in drinks such as Lucozade, Coca-Cola, Tropicana, Capri-Sun and Ribena. Public Health Liverpool says around 2,000 children in the city will have had tooth extractions by the age of five with more than a third suffering from tooth decay, and recently a 14-year-old child needed 15 adult teeth removing.
Replying to a question in the House of Lords from Lord Hunt of King’s Heath, health minister Lord Prior said that the Government took ‘a keen interest’ in the performance of the GDC and its plans for improvement. But he ruled out asking the National Audit Office to carry out a ‘value for money’ examination of the GDC’s financial management.
Read more: Government has ‘no plans’ to investigate GDC’s finances
The Times reports that parents are paying huge mark-ups for children’s toothpaste when the standard product is just as effective at protecting teeth. Toothpaste marketed at children is double the price of ordinary toothpaste even though it contains the same amount of fluoride, the paper has found. The average price of 100ml of standard branded toothpaste in the big five supermarkets is £1.21 but the average price of 100ml of children’s toothpaste is £2.40.
Read more: Children’s toothpaste costs too much says newspaper
The Chief Dental Officer for England, Sara Hurley, has been appointed Honorary Professor in Dentistry at the University of Manchester’s School of Dentistry. Her first official visit to the School was for a meeting with health service researchers to help develop her priorities for national policy.
Restaurants should routinely offer tap water to families to help fight child obesity, councils have said. Many restaurants only give tap water on request, despite a legal requirement for licensed premises to provide it, and most diners do not ask for tap water, a survey for the Local Government Association (LGA) found. It also found that 13% of parents feel awkward about asking for free water when eating out as alternative to sugary drinks.
In reply to Parliamentary Questions, health minister Alistair Burt MP has outlined the steps he is taking to improve dental standards amongst primary school age children. Separately he said in reply to Paula Sherriff the Labour MP for Dewsbury that a reformed dental contract could begin to be rolled out nationally from 2018/19 onwards.
Read more: Minister outlines moves on child oral health and new contract
In answer to a Parliamentary Question the Minister of State, Alistair Burt, has published figures on NHS dental spending. Government expenditure on GDS was £2.03bn last year, with an additional £716m recovered in patients charges. In real terms the total spend (including charges) has decreased from £2,205bn in 2004/06 to £2.045 last year, despite the increase in patient charges.