BDA survey shows most dentists want to leave NHS

Instead, that demographic is now considering increasing the private work they do, working in private practice or moving abroad. Buying a practice is no longer considered a viable option, according to the poll, as only 16 per cent of those surveyed thought they would be able to own a practice in the next five years.

The worrying figures come after statistics from NHS Digital showed that the income of dentists in England and Wales has decreased by almost 35 per cent over the last decade. According to the BDA, the government is mainly to blame, as commitments to overhaul the controversial 2006 dental contract have not been honoured.

“The dental contract has reduced our patients to a line in a spreadsheet. This conveyor belt model of care has decisively failed both our patients and the young dentists on whom the future of the service depends,” said Chair of the BDA’s Young Dentists Committee Dr Harman Chahal. “Young NHS dentists are being asked to make impossible choices. They are offered no reward for going above and beyond, just the constant threat of penalties for not hitting government targets.”

Chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee Dr Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen added that, while young dentists remain the backbone of the dental workforce, government has made NHS high-street practice so unattractive that the next generation is now looking to the exit.

“Practices across the UK are already reporting major recruitment problems. This is a crisis made in Westminster, and Westminster must respond,” he urged.

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