Young dentists 'spurning NHS work'

Updated 10.35 Wed Mar 05 2008
Keywords: dentist, NHS

Young dentists are increasingly spurning NHS work, new data has suggested.

The proportion of income from NHS work by dentists aged under 35 has dropped by nearly half in five years, the NHS Information Centre has shown.

Dentists aged 45 to 54 saw a decrease from 54.6 per cent to 44 per cent in the proportion of their income from NHS work in the same period

In 2000/01, 64.7 per cent of income for dentists in this age group came from the NHS but by 2005/06 the sum had dropped to 36 per cent.

Dentists aged 45 to 54 saw a decrease from 54.6 per cent to 44 per cent in the proportion of their income from NHS work in the same period.

The report Dental Earnings And Expenses, Great Britain, 2005/06, provides the statistics.

The data has been released following a poll for the Citizens Advice Bureau which found that millions of adults have not seen an NHS dentist for almost two years because they are unable to find a practice that will accept them.

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