“The system is just not operable,” says dentist as millions struggle to get NHS dentist appointments

Why are so many dentists stepping away from the profession or handing back their NHS contracts?

Transcript

00:00A lot of patients, we're seeing nearly one in five operating themselves at home doing

00:06DIY dentistry and that's where the searches are coming in, where people are going online

00:10looking for home remedies and help and assistance at home and that's really worrying for us.

00:15It's getting incredibly difficult for a patient to access a dental clinic in this current

00:20climate.

00:21How has the availability and accessibility of NHS dental care changed over the last decade

00:26and what impact do you think that's had on public dental health here in the UK?

00:30The cost of dentistry has been rising, we saw last year in 2023 I think an 8.5% increase

00:36in NHS dental fees, that was higher than inflation, so many patients are being priced out and

00:41then other dentists are handing back NHS contracts.

00:44The system is just not operable for many of them and what that means is many patients

00:48when they visit their local clinic are finding either the dentist has left or the NHS contracts

00:52have been handed back and we're seeing that on a mass kind of scale, a mass exodus of

00:56dentists leaving the system.

00:59Searches for NHS dentists reached their highest level in January of this year.

01:04What steps do you think need to be taken to help improve the availability and accessibility

01:08of NHS dental services for everyone?

01:10I think the government needs to recognise the system that the NHS dentistry is operating

01:14within.

01:15It doesn't need a patchwork kind of approach, it actually needs a reform of the contract

01:19system, how dentists treat patients, how they're enumerated, how patients pay for treatment.

01:24A lot of it is around the financial aspects but also in terms of the geography as well.

01:28We're seeing large parts of the country that we call dental deserts where patients are

01:33having to travel on average nearly 40 miles to see a dentist and we think digital should

01:37play a large part in that too.

01:39We think technology, dentistry should be brought into the 21st century and technology needs

01:43to be incorporated into that dental clinic.

01:47Only then do we feel that patients will get the best experience.

01:50What we're encouraging the government to do is look at the policy, look at the reforming

01:53the actual aspect of dentistry and equipping dentists better to treat their patient base.