Dentists abandon low-paid NHS work

British dentists now earn more than half their income from treating private patients, deepening fears about the collapse of low-cost dental care on the NHS.

A new survey, published tomorrow, reveals that the UK's 21,000 dentists earned about £100m more from private work than from the NHS last year, making nearly £1.9bn from private patients.

The finding was described as "very worrying" by David Hinchliffe, the chairman of the cross-party Commons Health Select Committee.

Mr Hinchliffe said the survey, by healthcare analysts Laing and Buisson, painted an even gloomier picture than in previous years. It raised fresh fears about the steady drift of dentists away from poorly paid NHS work, and a similar shift of dentists from poorer northern towns to the south.

In another alarming finding, the survey revealed that 1.5 million fewer adults are registered for NHS dental care than in 1998, and five million fewer than in 1993. MPs and dentists leaders fear that more people are failing to use or find NHS dentists.

"I'm really concerned about the long-term effects," said John Renshaw, chairman of the British Dental Association. "As a profession, we have to accept our social responsibility to do the best we can to provide a comprehensive service, but not at our expense." Mr Renshaw said NHS payments had fallen so low over the past few decades that his members felt "abused and taken for granted".

On the NHS, dentists are paid fees per treatment, but at uneconomic rates. A full examination will earn a dentist £6.65 on the NHS, compared with £20 privately. As a result, fewer dentists want NHS work, worsening a recruitment crisis in the profession.

The study has estimated that dentists earned a total of £3.7bn in 2001/2 – a rise of £1.1bn over four years ago. Over the same period, spending on private care leapt 90 per cent.Part of the rise is linked to the increase in cosmetic and specialist treatments.

Meanwhile, dentistry is being run much more as an industry. Small single-dentist practices are now in steep decline and eight national dental care corporations, such as Boots Healthcare, have bought more than 200 practices since 1998.

Laing and Buisson said, however, that increasing consumer awareness meant that patients were better informed and generally better served.