{"id":320617,"date":"2026-03-09T12:23:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/320617\/"},"modified":"2026-03-09T12:23:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T12:23:07","slug":"almost-a-third-of-people-in-england-use-private-dentists-amid-nhs-dental-crisis-dentists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/320617\/","title":{"rendered":"Almost a third of people in England use private dentists amid NHS dental crisis | Dentists"},"content":{"rendered":"

Almost a third of people in England<\/a> now use private dentistry, with a sharp rise in the number of poorer households forced to pay for fillings and extractions.<\/p>\n

The scarcity of NHS care means the proportion of people turning to private dental services jumped from 22% in 2023 to 32% late last year, the health service\u2019s patient watchdog found.<\/p>\n

The reliance on paid-for treatment is so significant that dental care is becoming a costly \u201cone tier\u201d \u2013 private-only \u2013 service for more and more people, Healthwatch England is warning.<\/p>\n

It is concerned that the percentage of people who describe themselves as struggling financially that have used private dentistry has almost doubled in recent years from 14% to 27%.<\/p>\n

Those who do are hit with a \u201cdouble penalty\u201d, the watchdog added. That is because dentists charge much more for private than NHS work, for example \u00a364 for a check-up that costs only \u00a327.40 on the NHS. And they may also lose out because many low-income patients, as well as all pregnant women and new mothers, miss out on free NHS dental care to which they are entitled because they cannot find a dentist to treat them as health service patients.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur findings are a warning that for some people there\u2019s only one-tier dental care \u2013 private,\u201d said Rebecca Curtayne, Healthwatch England\u2019s acting head of policy, public affairs and research. \u201cIt\u2019s the most vulnerable people in our society who bear the brunt of the ongoing shortage of NHS dental appointments.<\/p>\n

\u201cToo many people on low income are being forced into private care they struggle to afford, or are going without treatment altogether. The system is failing those who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n

Healthwatch\u2019s findings are based on a representative survey of 2,593 adults it undertook last October and November to inform its annual report about patients\u2019 experience of healthcare, which it is publishing later this week.<\/p>\n

Ministers should tackle the access crisis by giving everyone the right to see an NHS dentist in the same way they are entitled to be on a GP surgery list, according to Curtayne. Healthwatch, the statutory NHS patient champion, is being abolished as part of Wes Streeting\u2019s controversial reorganisation<\/a> of the NHS in England.<\/p>\n

The big shift to private dental care showed NHS dentistry \u201cexists in name only for many people\u201d, the Patients Association said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis report is yet further damning evidence on the state of NHS dentistry and this double penalty for people on low incomes demonstrates a systemic failure with real human consequences,\u201d said Rachel Power, the association\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just about the cost of dentistry. The lack of affordable dental care harms physical health, leaves people in ongoing, sometimes agonising, pain, and can take a heavy toll on mental and emotional wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Power added: \u201cHealthwatch\u2019s warning that we are sleepwalking towards a one-tier, costly system is one we should all take seriously. Where getting dental care simply means paying for it privately, the NHS dental service exists in name only for many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Competition and Markets Authority last week launched an inquiry<\/a> into the UK\u2019s \u00a38.4bn private dental market \u201cto make sure it is working well for UK consumers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Explaining its decision, the competition watchdog\u2019s chief executive, Sarah Cardell, said: \u201cGoing to the dentist is an important part of health and wellbeing. Yet we\u2019re concerned many may be uncertain about costs, availability, treatment options and what they\u2019re entitled to. For some, turning to private dentistry is a choice \u2013 but for many a necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CMA\u2019s estimate of the number of people using private dental care in the UK \u2013 one in five \u2013 is substantially lower than Healthwatch\u2019s 32% in England.<\/p>\n

Its review will look at access to private dentistry, competition within the sector and the \u201csignificant\u201d price rises surgeries have imposed in recent years. For example, the cost of an initial consultation jumped by 23% to \u00a380 and a check-up by 14% to \u00a355 between 2022 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Dentists blame ministers for the inaccessibility of NHS dental care. They say that the NHS pays them so little to carry out certain types of work that they provide them at a loss and have to cross-subsidise that to the tune of \u00a3400m a year just to break even on those treatments.<\/p>\n

The British Dental Association (BDA), which represents dentists, claims that this \u201cfunding gap \u2026 is inevitably putting some pressure on private pricing. Government has a responsibility to properly fund NHS care to prevent people being forced into private treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Responding to last week\u2019s announcement of the CMA inquiry, Eddie Crouch, the BDA\u2019s chair, said: \u201cThose left without options, who have felt forced to go private, are there entirely because of choices made by the Treasury.\u201d<\/p>\n

The BBC disclosed<\/a> last week that dentists in England were doing so little NHS work that they had handed back \u00a3936m over the last two years of the money that had been allocated to pay them for performing procedures.<\/p>\n

A Department of Health and Social CCare spokesperson said: \u201cAs this report shows, this government inherited an NHS dentistry service that had been left to rot for more than a decade. We believe strongly that everyone should be able to get dental care, not just those who can afford it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken immediate action to fix this, delivering 1.8m more treatments in the first seven months of this year, with more children and the most deprived benefitting most. We are also reforming the dental contract, to treat more patients and put a greater focus on prevention. We\u2019re determined to end the two-tier service and put dental care within everyone\u2019s reach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost a third of people in England now use private dentistry, with a sharp rise in the number…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[134,527,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-320617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-healthcare","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-healthcare","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}