New reforms to give one million more people an NHS dentist

Andrew Lansley has announced a series of measures to restore access to an NHS dentist to the million people who have lost it under Labour.

The Shadow Health Secretary attacked the “terrible dental legacy” that Labour is leaving, and warned that it will be “difficult to fix”.

“Over a million people have lost their NHS dentist in just three years and dentists are fed up with the flawed, system of perverse incentives that Labour have introduced.”

Andrew outlined a series of reforms to allow more patients to access an NHS dentist:

• Slashing costly bureaucracy and cutting out waste to restore access to an NHS dentist for the million patients who have lost it under Labour
• Creating new incentives for dentists to spend more time on preventative dental care, improving oral health and reducing long term costs
• Using money currently spent on unnecessary treatments to reintroduce dental screening for children in schools
• Giving dentists the freedom to charge patients who repeatedly miss appointments
• Ensuring taxpayer-trained dentists work for the NHS for at least five years

Andrew promised to make preventative treatment “a real priority” in order to improve the nation’s dental health.

And he stressed, “Our plans will create real incentives for dentists to help people avoid tooth decay, so that we can cut the shocking rise in the number of people needing to have their teeth pulled out.”