Independent review of the NHS dental contract

The current dental care arrangements were launched in 2006 and by 2008 the House of Commons described the system as “failing by any criteria". These arrangements are failing patients and dental teams leading to access problems around the country.

We need a dental service that has prevention at its heart with a priority of delivering access to care and reducing dental health inequalities.

We need a system that enables the whole of the dental team to contribute to improving health, empowering dentists, therapists, hygienists, technicians and nurses to work together to provide the best possible care for patients.

We are calling for an independent review of the existing contract and a radical rethink of the way in which dental services are delivered.

There are currently no plans for an independent review of dentistry.

NHS England and Improvement (NHSE&I) has a duty to commission NHS dental services to meet local need. We acknowledge there are regional hotspots where access is an issue and NHSE&I have been active in many of these areas, prior to the pandemic, ensuring that services better meet patient needs.

We recognise, however, the limitations of the current NHS dental contract, which is why NHSE&I has also introduced initiatives such as ‘flexible commissioning' which allow local NHS teams to commission a wider range of preventative services from NHS dental practices, which also make use of the full skill mix of all disciplines within the dental team, with the aim of providing an increase service for patients and a multidisciplinary approach to delivery of NHS dental care.

Health Education England is also continuing to explore opportunities for flexible dental training pathways through their Advancing Dental Care programme, the aim of which is to improve dental workforce retention.

The Department has also been working closely with NHSE&I to test a new way of providing NHS dentistry which includes a remuneration model which incentivises an increased focus on prevention. It is yet not clear whether the approach has been able to offer sustainability for practices or value for money for the NHS. We have been working closely with prototype practices to understand this further and this information will feed into the evaluation report due to be published later this year.