The Care Quality Commission (CQC), has increased its regulatory fees for dentists in England from 1 April 2019 by 13% - the equivalent of an additional £0.6 million.

The move has been condemned by the BDA, which said it was unfair given that the regulator consistently reported that dental practices, when compared with all other sectors, presented the lowest risk to patient safety.

The new fees will increase costs for single-location and domiciliary dental care providers by £69-£149, depending on the number of dental chairs, with fees for multiple-location providers rising by the same proportions.

The BDA said it did not believe that the CQC had demonstrated adequately that there was a gap between CQC costs and fees recovered of £2 million. Given that dentistry was estimated to account for only 4.5% of the CQC's costs (but 20% of its registrants), the BDA questioned why dentists were expected to pay 20% of the Commission's overheads.

It also questioned why corporates would continue to pay proportionally less per surgery than the average high street provider.

The Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP(UK)) also condemned the fee increase and its Dean, Ian Mills said: 'In view of the highly positive reports the Commission has delivered on the dental sector in recent years, dentists will find a further increase in fees this year particularly bewildering and unwelcome.'