Why Is Dentistry The Poor Relation In The NHS, Asks The BDA? UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 10 Oct 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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Responding to the announcement of the Comprehensive Spending Review, the British Dental Association has called on the government to ensure that funding for NHS dentistry keeps pace with funding for other parts of the NHS.

Despite the unprecedented investment in the National Health Service, the British Dental Association estimates that the proportion of NHS funding allocated to NHS dentistry has actually fallen from about 3.1 per cent in 2002-03 to 2.8 per cent in 2007-08.

And in the period 1990-91 to 2003-04, according to the National Audit Office, overall NHS funding per capita increased by 75 per cent. Spending on high street dentistry per capita during the same period increased by only nine per cent.

Peter Ward, Chief Executive of the BDA, said:

"Investment in NHS dentistry remains inadequate as the government itself acknowledges that around two million people who want to access NHS dental care are unable to do so.

"If people are to get the NHS dental care they want, then the level of spending on dentistry must catch up with the investment in the rest of the NHS.

"It's also crucial that primary care trusts, now responsible for commissioning local dentistry, understand the history of underspending which has seen dentistry lag behind other areas of health care. "

1. National Audit Office figures for investment in NHS dentistry relative to other areas of the NHS are taken from the NAO report Reforming NHS Dentistry: ensuring effective management of risks, which was published in November 2004.

2. The British Dental Association (BDA) is the professional association for dentists in the UK. It represents over 20,000 dentists working in general practice, in community and hospital settings, in academia and research, and in the armed forces.

British Dental Association

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