NHS dentistry in England and Wales is 'hanging by a thread', say unions

Data from NHS England and NHS Wales shows more than 2,500 dentists - up to 8% of the workforce - stopped treating NHS patients last year.

At least one town in England has been unable to attract a single applicant for vacant NHS dentist posts for two years.

The British Dental Association (BDA) said unhappiness with the NHS dental contract was a key factor.

NHS England said patients who needed care the most should be prioritised, and added it had set up 600 urgent dental centres across England.

The number of NHS dentists in two English clinical commissioning group areas (CCGs) fell by more than a quarter in the year ending March 31, 2021.

The worst-affected was NHS Portsmouth CCG, which lost 26 per cent of its NHS dentists over 12 months.

Meanwhile, 28 other English CCGs have lost at least 10 per cent of their NHS dentists.

In Wales, 6 per cent of NHS dentists stopped treating NHS patients, with 83 fewer dentists doing NHS work than the year before.

The number of NHS and HSCNI dentists in Scotland and Northern Ireland has remained steady over the last three years.

The BDA’s Shawn Charlwood said: “NHS dentistry is hanging by a thread, because without NHS dentists, there will be no NHS dentistry.

“It’s a really serious situation and every dentist that is lost or every vacancy for NHS dentistry that remains unfilled affects thousands of patients in terms of care and their ability to access care.”