The British Dental Association (BDA) has rejected the Government’s motives in calling an inquiry into private dental charges, claiming new evidence shows absolutely no evidence of inflation-busting price hikes in prices.
BDA research indicates there has in fact been a real-terms reduction in the level of private fees, despite significant increases in overheads. [1] Between 2021 and 2025, private fees charged to patients have tracked well below inflation, resulting in a decline in real fee levels of approximately 8%. The BDA stress this is a clear reflection of a healthy, and highly competitive market.
The Competition and Markets Authority launched their investigation in March. Following an exhaustive study of private pricing, the professional body has found no evidence of systemic price hikes of over 23% between 2022 and 2024, a figure which headlined at the launch of this investigation. [2]
Last November Rachel Reeves called on the CMA to investigate private dental pricing. In a letter to the watchdog the Chancellor said: “the scourge of hidden costs, lack of transparency and overtreatment has blighted families in need of dental treatment for too long. That’s why I want to see urgent action taken to help reduce prices, whilst the cost of living still puts pressure on families across the country.”
The professional body says that the government are now the authors of the cost-of-living pressures facing dental patients, by failing to reverse savage cuts made by successive governments that are drawing practices away from the NHS as a simple matter of survival. Analysis undertaken by the BDA in evidence to the CMA indicates that in England, the cost of delivering NHS treatments now exceeds the public funding provided by £1.2 billion. [3]
Most practices provide both NHS and private care. This means that a proportion of the costs of NHS dentistry must be met from private income. This new analysis estimates the typical practice in England is losing over £25 on a checkup, almost £90 on denture repairs, and over £100 on root canal treatment. [4]
The BDA maintains that while high quality and cost-effective private care remains a preferred option for millions, Government has a responsibility to properly fund NHS care to prevent people being forced into private treatment. It says the Treasury has banked on this cross-subsidy to keep spending down, but at material cost to the long-term sustainability of NHS dentistry. It says that after a generation of savage real-terms cuts, the service needs to be able to stand on its own two feet if it is going to survive. [5]
They Associations says the time has come for a fair funding settlement that covers dentists’ costs and addresses huge unmet need for NHS care, to support the pledged wholesale reform of the discredited NHS dental contract. [6]
BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said: “Rachel Reeves chose to denigrate private dentists delivering high quality care to millions, rather than support colleagues providing NHS treatment. The reality is patients aren’t facing surging private prices, but many have been left with few options because this Chancellor won’t plug the funding gap in NHS dentistry. Our private colleagues deserve an apology. Those in the NHS require some tangible support.”
References
[1] Between 2021 and 2025, private fees charged to patients have not kept pace with inflation, resulting in a decline in real fee levels of approximately 8%. Meanwhile, the costs of providing dentistry have increased. The average cost of private laboratory-made dental appliances, like dentures and crowns, increased by 4.9% in real terms between 2023 and 2025. The hourly pay of a dental nurse increased by between 4 and 9% from 2024 to 2025. Taken together, these findings suggest that dentists operate within a competitive environment where price increases are constrained, limiting the ability to fully pass on rising input costs.
[2] The CMA, citing private health insurance website, MyTribeInsurance, claim that between 2022 and 2024, initial consultations rose by over 23% to £80, and routine check-ups for existing patients by over 14% to £55.
The BDA have found between 2021 and 2025, private fees charged to patients have not kept pace with inflation, resulting in a decline in real fee levels of approximately 8%. Meanwhile, the costs of providing dentistry have increased. The average cost of private laboratory-made dental appliances, like dentures and crowns, increased by 4.9% in real terms between 2023 and 2025. The hourly pay of a dental nurse increased by between 4 and 9% from 2024 to 2025. Taken together, these findings suggest that dentists operate within a competitive environment where price increases are constrained, limiting the ability to fully pass on rising input costs.
[3] Using treatment timings, an updated cost per clinical hour, and observed activity volumes, the total funding required to deliver NHS dental services in England is estimated at approximately £4.18 billion. This compares to an NHS primary care dental budget of £2.96 billion in 2023/24, implying a funding shortfall of around £1.22 billion.
[4] BDA analysis of comparison of estimated treatment costs and NHS fees (England)
[5] Between 2010 and 2024 the proportion of the NHS budget spent on dentistry more than halved from 3.3% to just 1.5%. This has resulted in cuts with no parallel anywhere in the NHS – in real terms the NHS dental budget has been cut by over a third since 2010; a real cut of £1bn.
Ministers have long relied on patient charge increases to fund their budget for NHS dentistry, instead of proper state investment. Since 2010, dental charges have risen by nearly two-thirds, with complex treatments now costing £332 – £134 more than a decade ago.
In its 2024 manifesto, the Labour Party committed to rebuilding dentistry for the long term through reforming the dental contract, and a shift to focusing on prevention and the retention of NHS dentists. Whilst these are welcome commitments, they are unachievable without additional funding. According to BDA research an increase of approximately £1.5bn a year would be required to restore NHS dentistry to a universal service.
[6] BDA analysis of the GP Survey 2025, by Ipsos, extrapolating data in line with ONS midyear population estimates, places unmet need for NHS dental care at close to 14m adults, or over 1 in 4 of England’s adult population. Unmet need figures for 2025 were almost unchanged on 2024 levels, at around 13.8m. 5.7m adult patients tried and failed to secure NHS care in the last 2 years – a fall of 700,000 on the previous year’s figures, but with a corresponding surge in the number of people who had effectively given up trying, with the number of people not even attempting to make appointments as they didn’t think they could secure care up by over half a million to 5.9m. The costs of care pushed 1.3 million away, and 880,000 indicated they were on waiting lists, all up on the previous year’s figures. Prior to Covid, levels of unmet need hovered consistently at around 1 in 10 of the adult population.
