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A new contract for dentists in Great Britain's government-run health care system is failing to improve services for patients, Members of Parliament have warned. Changes in the way dentists are paid means they effectively have no financial incentive to give appropriate treatment, the Commons Health Select Committee said.

• Under the new contract, dentists receive an agreed annual sum rather than being paid for each individual treatment.
• The committee found the number of dentists extracting a decaying tooth rather than carrying out a more complicated procedure had increased.
• As a result, the volume of more complex work like crowns, bridges and dentures has fallen by 57 percent.

The report said it was "extraordinary" that the Department of Health did not carry out pilot studies on the new system before introducing it across England.

Figures released last month showed that almost a million fewer people are now seeing an NHS dentist than before the Government's 'reforms'...

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