Briefing for MPs: Opposition Day Debate on NHS dentistry, 9 January 2024

The Trafford area of Greater Manchester and South Tyneside have the highest numbers (11.7 and 9.13 per 10,000 respectively) and the East Riding of Yorkshire and Norfolk and Waveney have the fewest (3.41 and 3.60 per 10,000 respectively). [...] What is going on in the NHS dental workforce? The numbers of NHS dentists in England have barely grown in a decade. [...] 2) Measures to attract and retain NHS dentists, including a loans forgiveness scheme The Long-Term Workforce Plan is right to target improved skill-mix to deliver the NHS dentistry workforce of the future. [...] 3) Invest in dental public health Given the stark inequalities present in both access to dental care and in oral health in England, and the reality that much dental disease is preventable, more attention needs to be paid to comprehensive public health programmes and interventions which can deliver benefits for long-term health and limit the requirements for dental intervention. [...] NHS Dentistry: Opposition Day Debate, January 2024 9 10 What happens if we continue to muddle through? If this Government and the next Government duck the challenge of setting out a clear, strategic and long-term approach to NHS dentistry, we will be left with a continuation of current policy: to allow the steady decline of NHS dentistry, with a relentless drift of patients and dentists to the pri.