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EMS held the UK leg of its World Tour this month. Dentistry went along to see why this growing community is so passionate about GBT. The dental profession can sometimes feel like it’s moving at a snail’s pace, which makes innovations that truly shake up dentistry few and far between. Which is why success stories,…
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After little mention of dentistry during her leadership campaign, many are questioning how high up dentistry is on Liz Truss’ agenda as Prime Minister. At the time of writing, Liz Truss is the new Prime Minister and is currently forming her new cabinet. Whatever your thoughts on Boris Johnson as the outgoing PM – or…
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Simon Thackeray discusses his reasons for finally moving away from the NHS completely and focusing on private dentistry. Like many dentists who choose to leave the NHS and begin practising private dentistry, when Simon Thackeray made the change, he still kept treating children on the NHS. But Covid-19 and the increase in ‘digital bureaucracy’ it…
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Parents have been told not to use US-made homeopathic teething treatments after claims they are to blame for the deaths of 10 children in America. British health officials issued the warning after a US investigation also linked the tablets and gels to 400 cases of seizures and other reactions in youngsters. Symptoms can include difficulty in…
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The National Audit Office should investigate the General Dental Council’s hefty legal and PR bills, the government has been told. Labour called for Parliament’s watchdog to step in after the regulator was criticised for high spending during a recent whistleblowing enquiry and grilling by a committee of MPs. The British Dental Association revealed that the…
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Dentists are being forced to act as ‘tax collectors’, ministers have been told – with no guarantee that the money raised will be spent on better care. Lord Colwyn – a former dentist himself – sharply criticised the government for hiking fees by 10% over two years without ring-fencing the revenue for dentistry. The Conservative…
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The Health Minister responsible for dentistry has backed mass fluoridation of tap water to cut tooth decay – but warned MPs will never vote for it. Alistair Burt said he was ‘perfectly convinced by the science’, which concludes there are huge benefits to oral health from adding fluoride, which currently reaches just 10% of the population.…
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Dentists’ leaders have attacked George Osborne’s plans for ‘time-limited’ contracts and demanded urgent talks. The British Dental Association (BDA) reacted with alarm to a surprise Treasury proposals to impose limits on new agreements in order to trigger greater competition between practices. A document released by the Chancellor described the current, timeless contracts as a system…
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George Osborne has included NHS dentistry on a hit-list of professions where customers deserve ‘a better deal’. The Chancellor attacked ‘opaque and confusing’ dental charges, ‘inaccurate information’ about treatments and ‘rigid regulatory controls’, which restrict patient choice. A 25-page ‘blueprint for a better deal’ put dentistry alongside everything from mobile phones, broadband, water bills and…
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A seven-day-a-week NHS should not be introduced just to help people with ‘busy lives’, a senior Conservative MP told ministers. Sara Wollaston, the chairwoman of the Commons Health Select Committee, said a case could be made for a seven-day NHS if it cut weekend deaths and unnecessary hospital admissions and improved quality. But, during a…
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The head of the under-fire General Dental Council (GDC) has insisted it is turning the corner and will take the ‘stress’ out of fitness to practise cases. Evlynne Gilvarry admitted the need for ‘significant improvement’ by the regulator had been exposed by a big surge in complaints – which are up 115% since 2011. That…
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Dentists would be happier if they ditched NHS work and treated only private patients, a striking Government analysis suggests. The study – into ‘motivation and morale’ – also found that dentists are least satisfied about their pay, when ranked alongside questions about ‘recognition’, ‘equipment’, ‘challenge’ and ‘progression’. Overall, providing-performer dentists in England and Wales were…
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One English city has declared it is leading the way in fighting tooth decay in children after making the problem a key public health priority. Leicester discovered it has the worst record of any local authority for five-year-olds – more than half have decay – and among the worst for three-year-olds, with more than one…
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Dentists’ leaders are seeking urgent answers after the Health Secretary announced plans to axe annual pay progression – criticising it for rewarding ‘time in the job’. Jeremy Hunt revealed that fresh negotiations with NHS workers would focus on how to remove the ‘virtually automatic’ pay hikes, as well as on creating a seven-day health service.…
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The Government has vowed to act on key recommendations made by official nutrition advisers to cut Britain’s so-called ‘addiction to sugar’. However, ministers have ruled out a ‘sugar tax’ – demanded by the British Dental Association and other campaigners – but without explaining why. The moves follow the publication of guidance by the Scientific Advisory…
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There will be ‘queues around the block’ for an NHS dentist unless extra money is pumped in urgently, the Government has been warned. The British Dental Health Foundation painted a bleak picture for the service unless ministers pressed the accelerator on long-delayed reforms to the dental contract. The dental charity pinned the blame for ‘current…
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Tooth decay should be one of the Government’s promised new measures of child poverty, a senior MP says. Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary, has sparked controversy by unveiling plans to scrap a landmark ‘relative poverty’ target to measure the numbers below the breadline. Instead, it will be replaced by a duty on…
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A Conservative peer has accused his own Government of ignoring dentistry in its election plans, despite ‘worrying’ rates of decay in children. Lord Colwyn – a former dentist himself – revealed he had been asked to join meetings with the Tory health team, as the party’s manifesto was drawn up earlier this year. Yet, when…
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A parliamentary committee has been urged to investigate the suspension of a dentist on ‘trumped-up charges’. A Conservative MP used parliamentary privilege to accuse the General Dental Council (GDC) of wrongly targeting David Barnett, a dentist in his Worthing west constituency. Peter Bottomley, a minister under Margaret Thatcher, also urged the Commons health select committee…
