The Department of Health (DoH) has announced plans to allocate £11 million in funding for the implementation of new IT systems in dental hospitals across England .
The extra funding is part of a joint initiative by the DoH, NHS Connecting for Health and the Dental IT programme board to support the training of dental students in the UK .
In addition to training future dental care professionals, NHS dental hospitals and associated dental schools research ways to improve oral and dental health standards and provide specialist clinical services for patients.
Deputy Chief Dental Officer, Tony Jenner said the extra funding "reinforces the Government's commitment to supporting dental hospitals and expanding the dental workforce".
He added: "The NHS now has over 4,000 more dentists than it did in 1997 and we have increased the number of undergraduate training places by 25 per cent to ensure we have more dentists in the areas of the country that need them the most."
The £11 million will be split between each of the 10 trusts that applied for funding, including the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, South Birmingham PCT and the Guy's and St Thomas's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
The DoH said the trusts will be responsible for using the money to train dental students in the use of clinical computer programmes that they will use in practice.
