Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of enabling dental assistants to perform dental procedures under supervision.

We support making the best use of the range of skills held by dental teams so that they work to their full scope of practice. This enables clinicians to deliver more complex care and reduce delays for patients.

The General Dental Council’s (GDC) Scope of Practice guidance sets out the areas in which dental professionals have the knowledge, skills, and experience to practise safely and effectively in the best interests of patients. NHS England’s guidance of January 2023 further sets out that dental therapists and dental hygienists can open and close National Health Service courses of treatment and provide direct access to NHS care within the GDC’s guidance.

We are holding a roundtable with dental care professionals on 10 July 2025 where we will listen to feedback about the implementation of recent reforms to increase the scope of practice for dental therapists and hygienists, and the potential for making better use of their skills in future.