Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of allowing dental therapists to carry out routine dental care on increasing the overall level of NHS dental capacity.

The improvements to the National Health Service dental system announced in July 2022 and ‘Our plan for patients’ published in September aim to increase access, target care for patients with higher oral health needs and ensure NHS dentists are fairly rewarded, making NHS dentistry a more attractive place to work.

NHS England is supporting contract holders to make better use of all staff in dental teams, including therapists, to deliver treatment. This will allow a broader range of dental professionals to contribute to NHS contracts and support professions, such as therapists, to utilise the full scope of practice in the NHS, as in private practice. Contractors will have a greater range of staffing options to meet NHS contracts, while improving the morale of the therapist workforce through development and use of specialist knowledge.