Dentists will prioritize urgent care and save some patients more than £200 under plans

People needing urgent dental care and patients requiring complex care will be prioritized under government plans to improve access to NHS dentists in England.

The proposals could mean a saving of £225 for patients requiring numerous appointments for complicated treatments.

For years, many patients have found it increasingly difficult to find a dentist, with some towns in England labeled “dental deserts” with no access to NHS dentists.

The British Dental Association (BDA) said that without more funding and real reform the plans would not solve current problems.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Health Minister Stephen Kinnock said the plans were aimed at “prioritising” emergency care.

He said there was currently “a lot of unnecessary routine care” in NHS dentistry services.

If a patient has “good oral health,” they do not need to see a dentist “more than once every two years or so.”

He said the current practice of offering most patients NHS check-ups every six months was “not the right use” of dentists’ time, and added that it was “sucking a lot of money out of NHS dentistry”.

Under the current system, which dates back to 2006, dentists are paid for so-called units of dental activity, called UDAs.

Different procedures—fillings, extractions, and more complicated work—are assigned a different number of UDAs.

Dentists who provide care to the NHS have a contract which states the number of UDAs they will carry out each year and are paid accordingly.

But that meant dentists were able to have more money to carry out simple check-ups, rather than spending more time on patients who needed more complex and time-consuming care.

For years, dentists have complained that the contract for NHS work does not cover the costs of what they are being asked to carry out.

As a result, many dentists have given up their work in the NHS, meaning it is increasingly difficult for people to access care. There are parts of the country where there is simply no access to NHS dental care.

Under government plans, there would be new incentives for dentists to offer longer-term treatments for major problems such as gum disease and tooth decay through the NHS.

Currently, a patient with tooth decay on multiple teeth or severe gum disease – both of which require complex treatment – ​​would have to be treated over multiple appointments, which is costly and time-consuming.

But under proposed changes to the dental contract for NHS work, dental practices would be able to offer patients a single comprehensive package of treatments over a longer period, tailored to their needs.

And ministers say it could save a patient up to £225 in fees.

Shiv Pabary, chair of the BDA’s general dental practice committee, said “a dental crisis” was a direct result of the contract put in place in 2006.

“The reforms announced today aim to fix a system that is broken.”

He added that until “chronic underfunding” and wider systemic problems were addressed, NHS dentistry would continue to fail for “dentists and for patients”.

“Trying to provide comprehensive care on the same budget that we have now is going to be extremely difficult.”

Mr Kinnock said the Government had a “major problem to solve” on dental care and was negotiating a “radical overhaul” of the NHS dentistry contract with the BDA.