Bad News for Bath's Teeth! - Foster

1.44.50pm GMT Wed 8th Dec 2004

News that the British Dental Association has suspended talks with the Government on the arrangements for a new contract has been met with disappointment by Bath's MP, Don Foster.

Commenting, Don said

"The longer the contract negotiation drags on, the more the nation's teeth will suffer.

"This Government's failure over the last seven years to tackle the shortage of dentists and stop the exodus from the NHS has turned finding an NHS dentist in Bath like searching for a needle in a haystack, with many local people finding it almost impossible to get registered with an NHS dentist.

"The bad treatment that dentists suffered when they negotiated their last contract with the Conservatives makes the suspicion felt by dentists understandable. That legacy should not hamper negotiations that put NHS dentists back on the path to recovery.

"As reported by The Bath Chronicle, a few months ago, University of Bath researchers have shown that the NHS is short of 5,200 dentists, and issues surrounding their contract is an important factor.

"The Department of Health recently admitted that only 44 per cent of adults and 60 per cent of children in England had an NHS dentist, and today's news will do nothing to help that situation.

"It is vital that negotiations get back on track as soon as possible and that the new contract delivers a service that concentrates on prevention and ends the fill and drill culture of the old contract."

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Also see British Dental Association website http://www.bda-dentistry.org.uk/ for comments.