Dental graduates in England could be forced to work in the NHS to help tackle the crisis in access that has left millions struggling to get their teeth repaired.
Under the government’s plan they would have to undertake NHS work for “several years” after leaving university or face paying back some of the £200,000 cost of training them.
Victoria Atkins, the health secretary, said it was “only right” that graduates spent the early years of their careers treating NHS patients so that more people were seen more quickly.
A fall in the number of dentists doing NHS work has helped create “dental deserts”, where patients cannot get treatment, and prompt some people to turn to “DIY dentistry”, including pulling their own teeth out.
However, the British Dental Association (BDA), which represents dentists, claimed ministers were seeking to “shackle graduates to a service facing collapse” and said the plan would do little to improve access to NHS care.
Atkins said: “Taxpayers make a significant investment in training dentists, so it is only right to expect dental graduates to work in the NHS once they’ve completed their training.”
While more than 35,000 dentists in England are registered with the General Dental Council, only about two-thirds of them – 24,151 – provided any NHS-funded dental care during 2022-23. That was 121 fewer than those who did so a year earlier and 533 fewer than in 2019-20.
“This means nearly one-third of registered dentists are not contributing to NHS dentistry and may be working solely in private practice”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) said.
An eight-week public consultation on the plan, which the DHSC is launching on Thursday, is asking “whether newly qualified dentists should commit to delivering a minimum amount of NHS dental care for a minimum number of years after graduating, and whether they should repay some of the public funding invested in their training if they do not”.
Eddie Crouch, chair of the BDA, said: “Almost all UK graduates start their careers working in the NHS, meaning any gains in access would be negligible.
“Government plans to shackle graduates to a service facing collapse. It should be asking why experienced colleagues are walking away.”
Only 43% of adults in England saw a dentist in the two years to the end of June 2023, according to the most recent official figures – fewer than the 52% who did so before Covid struck in 2020.
Similarly, 53% of children and young people saw a dentist in the year to the end of June 2023, below the 59% who did so pre-pandemic.
The proposed “tie-in” is part of a government drive to expand access to NHS dental care, which has become an issue of huge public frustration and political concern.
Louise Ansari, the chief executive of the patient champion Healthwatch England, said: “People in every corner of England are struggling to get the dental treatment they need when they need it.
“NHS dentistry continues to be the second most common issue people report to Healthwatch [after access to GPs], with many living in pain, while some turn to private care.”
