BDA warns dentist expansion alone will not solve NHS crisis

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 1 April 2026

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LONDON, England: The UK government’s plan to expand registration routes for overseas dentists has been positioned as a major step towards easing the National Health Service (NHS) dental crisis. The main representative body for dentists in the UK, however, has warned that the policy on its own will not deliver the change the dental system needs.

As previously reported by Dental Tribune International, the new measures aim to boost workforce numbers by expanding capacity in the registration examinations for overseas-qualified dentists: the Overseas Registration Examination and the Licence in Dental Surgery. The reforms are designed to unlock a backlog of overseas-trained clinicians awaiting registration, in order to increase the number of dentists practising in the UK from 2028 onwards.

The government has argued that widening access to the register will help tackle long-standing shortages and improve patient access to care. However, the British Dental Association (BDA) has issued a stark critique, describing the policy shift in a press release as “seismic” but fundamentally lacking coherence.

According to the association, the planned expansion could see annual new registrants double to around 4,200, and as many as three-quarters of these may be dentists from abroad. While acknowledging the vital contribution of overseas-qualified dentists, the BDA warned that the strategy fails to address the root causes of the NHS dental crisis.

Central to its concerns is the absence of wider reform. Registration alone does not guarantee that dentists will deliver NHS care, because practitioners must still navigate the NHS performers list and may then require a period of in-practice support. The BDA has also highlighted tensions with broader immigration policy, arguing that proposed changes to UK settlement rules could make it more difficult for overseas-qualified clinicians to remain in the UK in the long term, increasing the risk of insecurity and potential exploitation.

Ultimately, the BDA maintains that without meaningful contract reform and sustainable funding, increasing headcount will not translate into improved NHS access. Therefore, the expansion—while welcome in some respects—does not amount to the systemic change the industry urgently needs.