The British Dental Association (BDA) says that NHS charges are driving patients with dental problems to overstretched GPs – and could soon overtake government funding as the principle source of revenue for NHS dentistry.
Analysis from the BDA has found that NHS charges could help push around 600,000 dental patients to GPs – the BDA estimates these appointments cost the NHS over £26 million a year.
Patient charges were first introduced in 1951 to lower demand for NHS dental services. The BDA has dubbed the charges a “tax on health” which mask real cuts in the service and discourage the patients most in need of care.
Figures show that nearly one in five patients has delayed treatment because of costs. Recent academic studies show that 600,000 patients – more than 11,000 a week – are choosing to see their GPs for dental advice, who are not subject to charges, but are unequipped to provide dental treatment, says the BDA.
Dental charges in England increased by 5% this year and are set to rise by a further 5% in 2017, alongside further falls in state funding for NHS dentistry.
BDA projections show that, unless ministers change course, patients will be contributing a full third of England's NHS dental budget through charges within the lifetime of this Parliament – and dental charges are on course to exceed government spending by 2032.
The BDA says that patients in England already pay far higher charges for basic care, and contribute a larger share of the dental budget through charges than in other parts of the UK.
Dental patients in the devolved nations pay less because systems in countries like Scotland have become less reliant on charge income over the last decade.
England now leads the field for basic treatment charges, with a £19.70 charge for an examination, compared to £13.50 in Wales. In Scotland, check-ups are free of charge, costing £4.72 for X-rays, £6.76 for extraction of one tooth, or £10.76 for simple gum treatment. In Northern Ireland, examinations charges start at £6.68.
The BDA is now sending information posters to more than 8,000 NHS dentists across England to help canvas feedback from patients on the future of the charge.
The BDA's General Dental Practice chair, Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, said:
“Ministers insist the NHS will remain free at the point of use, but keep ramping up England's dental charges.
“Increasingly they look like a tax on health – a substitute for adequate government investment, which drives down demand from the patients who need us most.
“These increases aren't putting an extra penny into the service – they are just a winning formula for cuts by stealth.
“We're told our patients should make a 'contribution' toward the cost of NHS dentistry – well unless ministers change course, our patients will end up paying more into the service than the state within a generation.
“The term 'NHS dentistry' ceases to have much meaning if patients are expected to pay the lion's share of their treatment costs at the point of delivery.
“Already these inflated charges are pushing those who can't pay towards overstretched GPs, who aren't equipped to treat them – it's bad for our patients and it's bad for the NHS.
“Dentists are health professionals not tax collectors – our patients need an adequately funded service and they deserve some honest answers on how that service will be paid for.”
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