Plans for greater dentistry provision

7:57am Friday 5th September 2008

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HEALTH bosses in the region have responded to the latest defection to private dentistry by announcing a big expansion in NHS provision.

The biggest increase will be in North Yorkshire where primary care officials last night revealed they are aiming to make about 75,000 extra places available. Details of the expansion will be given at the next North Yorkshire and York Primary Care Trust meeting on September 16.

In the North-East, NHS officials recently announced a £1.6m investment in services in some of the most disadvantaged areas in County Durham.

There are also plans to set up a new NHS practice in an area of Darlington, which is not well served. The announcement by North Yorkshire NHS bosses follows the defection from the NHS by Stokesley dentist Ian Gordon.

Mr Gordon has sold a group of NHS practices in Middlesbrough, Eaglescliffe and Guisborough to set up a private practice in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, with his wife, Jayne, also a dentist.

Mr Gordon said the new national dental contract introduced in April 2006, which paid dentists for meeting targets, called Units of Dental Activity, or UDAs, encouraged a treadmill approach to dentistry.

He said it also favoured quick-fix solutions such as extractions and fillings, and discouraged more complex work, or spending time encouraging patients to look after their teeth, he said. “Since the new contract came in, we have seen a phenomonal fall in the number of root fillings by NHS dentists because the system means it is not worth their while spending the time it takes to do them,” said Mr Gordon, who is also chairman of the Teesside Local Dental Committee.

Mr Gordon said a minority of dentists were manipulating the system to get the maximum number of UDAs in a way which was not in the interests of patients. Mr Gordon said going private would allow him to spend more time with patients and allow him to put a greater emphasis on preventing dental health problems rather than simply repairing or extracting teeth. David Landes, dental advisor for the North-East Strategic Health Authority, said the new contract had allowed the NHS to set up new dental practices in areas which most needed them.