Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy to amend the NHS dental contract to prevent NHS patients from being required to pay the full cost of treatment at the time of booking an appointment.

The dental contract does not provide any legal basis for a dental practice to take payment for National Health Service dental work before a course of treatment has been delivered. An NHS dentist or dental professional should not charge a deposit before assessing a patient’s mouth and teeth or checking their symptoms. Further information is available at the following link:

https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/what-happens-when-you-visit-the-dentist/

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for commissioning primary care services, including NHS dentistry, and for determining the priorities for investment, in order to meet the needs of the local populations. If dental practices are operating outside of their contract, the ICB will be able to engage with the practice to resolve this issue.