Sir, I read with dismay the announcements by Minister for Health Dr John Reid in the summer concerning the plans to resuscitate NHS Dental Care.

The present Government are hell bent on a package that will do nothing for the basic ailments that bedevil the attempts to deliver decent oral health care to the population.

Patients – by stealth and ever increasing charges over the years – fund the greater part of treatment at point of use. This amounts to a massive injection of capital and is an outrageous imposition in a National Health Service purported to deliver the health needs of the population without charge when required.

Why is it that the mouth and oral health care are some totally different deal? Is dentistry rather than being a specialised branch of general healthcare some sort of woodwork procedure akin to jobbing carpentry?

Just imagine what would happen if in an analogous situation the first time some little old lady was asked to pay £370.00 or so towards a necessary hip replacement procedure!

Every tabloid and media outlet would be screaming in a millisecond. Yet the deathly silence when this happens (and is meekly complied with!) in dentistry is so deafening as to be unbelievable. Whilst no one protests this will of course continue despite it being so hugely illogical.

Dr Reid tells us that 'The equivalent (sic) of 1000 dentists will be recruited by October 2005.'

Why? It seems that many from outside the UK will be fast tracked in the desperation to fill manpower needs whilst standards slide even further. What is the justification for this influx of dental professionals?

Dr Reid delivers a pledge to fund 170 extra undergraduate training places from October 2005. Why?

What we really need are dental therapists and hygienists. Dentists are largely over trained to deal with the large amounts of the relatively simple treatment procedures that are needed to stabilise oral health in the population.

Advanced restorative procedures will be in the minority. Dental therapists can be trained in 27 months to do much of the restorative dentistry needed and hygienists in even less time to deal with the important basic periodontics.

What then as an alternative to the above, do the people of the UK deserve? To remove NHS charges, put the mouth back in the body and properly re-integrate dental care into the rest of the NHS, salaries for all NHS dentists and a fair rent from the Department of Health to practice principals for existing and already capitalised practice premises.

Practice teams (the professionals complimentary to dentistry) should have direct salaried contracts with the Department of Health. Registration, accredited training, and continuing professional development programmes should be mandatory to enable this. There should be more therapists and hygienists (especially therapists) trained, not dentists and a revision of the availability of 'luxury items' within NHS regulations should occur.

In the proposed changes outlined by Dr Reid, there is no reason for any newly graduated dental professional to feel confident under such a system, of delivering the quality care that patients deserve and desperately need.

John Reid said 'Dental services will be properly integrated with the rest of the NHS providing better access to services and an improved patient experience'. How, pray is this to happen under such a programme?