A tax on sugar

A sugar tax should be introduced to make up for the critical shortfall in the budget for NHS dentistry if the government is serious about providing NHS dentistry for anyone who needs it, dentists heard today at the 2015 Conference of Local Dental Committees in London.

Addressing 300 dentists at the conference, the chair of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC), Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, said there is a huge mismatch between people’s demand for NHS treatment and dentists’ ability to deliver this care, when funding is limited to treating just over half of the population in England.

Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen said:

“The government is keen to promote preventive care, a laudable aim; however, dentistry seems to be the poor relation when it comes to the amount invested in treating current levels of disease, never mind the investment in prevention.

“Dentists want to treat more patients - and more patients want NHS care - but the profession's hands are tied by the fixed contracts allocated to them by the commissioners who buy dental care.