English dentists ‘walking away’ from NHS work as fees fail to cover costs

Dentists lose £42.60 each time they fit dentures and £7.69 on each examination of a new patient when the NHS pays for the treatment, the BDA says. Photograph: John Kellerman/Alamy

A growing “exodus” of dentists willing to provide care on the NHS threatens to exacerbate the crisis in patients’ access to treatment, the profession’s leaders have said.

Dentists are increasingly stopping doing NHS-funded work because their fees for many procedures do not even cover the costs involved, according to the British Dental Association (BDA).