FactCheck: are there fewer dentists?

The background

The Lib Dems are keen to address the piecemeal privatisation of NHS dentistry.

Today Menzies Campbell's party called for the charges on NHS dental check-ups to be scrapped.

As part of her criticism of Labour's management of dentistry, Gidley said the number of dentists in the UK was on the slide.

But is she right?

The analysis

"If Gordon (Brown) can't access an NHS dentist what chance do the rest of us have?", said Gidley in her conference address in Brighton today.

The claim was a reference to Brown recently admitting he hadn't been to the dentist for a year.

Whether her claim is true only the PM can answer. But Gidley went on to compound her complaints by saying the volume of dentists in the UK was falling.

Certainly there has been a great deal of change when it comes to getting into the dentist's chair in recent years.

The most significant shift being the introduction of a new contract for dentists in April last year.

The controversial contract ushered in a new method of paying practioners on a points system, amid government claims it would improve access to dentists for patients.

Under the contract, dentists were no longer paid for each NHS treatment, but receive a guaranteed income, estimated at £80,000 a year for three years.

Dental charges were also simplified into three pay bands to replace 400 separate payments.

However, many dentists felt the system was flawed and would leave them out of pocket - prompting fears of an exodus to the private sector.

Earlier this year the government admitted as much; revealing 2,000 dentists had quit the NHS, one year after the new dental deal come into force.

Which doubtless is where Gidley's claim comes in.

When she says "the number of dentists is falling" what she is referring to is the decline in the number of NHS dentists.

But in her rallying call to the party faithful she did not say "NHS dentists", she said 'dentists".

Which is where the General Dental Council, the national regulator, today disagreed.

Its figures show that on 31 December 2002 a total of 32,000 dentists were licensed to work in the UK.

It says today there are 35,143 licensed to practise in Britain; so that's an increase of more than 3,000, or about 10 per cent.

Of course, you can't assume that all registered dentists will be practising, but a hike of 3,000 is significant.

Factcheck rating: 4

Every time a FactCheck article is published we'll give it a rating from zero to five.

The lower end of the scale indicates that the claim in question largerly checks out, while the upper end of the scale suggests misrepresentation, exaggeration, a massaging of statistics and/or language.

In the unlikely event that we award a 5 out of 5, our factcheckers have concluded that the claim under examination has absolutely no basis in fact.

Sources

British Dental Journal (2006)
The Guardian, 17 September 2007

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