Dentists to offer check-ups only once in 2 years

HEALTHY patients will be offered a check-up with an NHS dentist only every two years and not six months under plans to free up appointments.

The rules will also be relaxed to allow less qualified ‘dental therapists’ to do more checks, fillings and extractions.

Officials at NHS England say the changes will make it easier to book check-ups and find dentists with open lists.

But the British Dental Association refused to endorse the shake-up, saying the measures only ‘paper over the cracks’. It called for more reforms and more money to stop dentists switching to private practice only.

‘These are modest, marginal changes that will not fix the rotten foundations this service is built on,’ said BDA spokesman Shawn Charlwood.

Under the shake-up, surgeries will be ordered to publish up-to-date information on whether or not they are taking on new NHS patients. And they will be told to vary the length of time between check-ups depending on a patient’s individual risk and health.

A letter setting out the reforms states there is ‘limited evidence’ for the need for six-monthly check-ups for people with ‘low oral health risk’.