The current NHS contract offered to dentists in the UK is encouraging professionals to see patients too often, a national healthcare charity has claimed.
According to the Patients Association, the dental contract does not provide an adequate reward for dentists carrying out preventative care work.
Dr Anthony Halperin, the association’s trustee, said the contract "encourages them to see patients possibly too often, but carry out work which is not of a complex nature".
"Work of a complex nature is not being rewarded to the dentists," he added. "Therefore, as far as the patient is concerned, they may not be getting the more complex treatment that they may be requiring."
Around 19,500 UK dentists signed up to provide NHS treatment when the current dental contract was launched in April 2006, according to official NHS statistics.
Dental professionals who sign up to the contract are entitled to carry out a mixture of NHS and private care work, while pay is based on each course of treatment undertaken rather than individual work.
