The Association of Dental Groups (ADG), the UK’s leading trade body for dental groups delivering patient care across NHS, private and community‑based dentistry, responded to data on NHS dentistry from the Nuffield Trust. Fundamentally the ADG’s dental group members are struggling with a critical lack of dentists which currently stands at approximately three thousand vacant dentist roles across NHS and private services. The NHS contact does need to be updated but throwing it out entirely will just slow progress.
Neil Carmichael, Executive Chair of the ADG, said:
“We should focus on the continued problems in recruiting dentists and other dental care professionals. The ADG is working to increase dental surgery exam capacity numbers, and the General Dental Council is gearing up to deliver on its promises. ‘Dental Deserts’ will remain until there are enough dentists to practice in parts of the UK.
“We do also need to perfect the existing NHS contract and show support for it. Constantly undermining NHS dentistry is not helpful. We see variations across regions which point to the need for more resources. There are four different NHS contracts: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, but the one common problem is a lack of dentists.”
