In July 2004 the Department of Health published the Report of the Primary Care Dental Workforce Review - some two years after the actual review was completed.

The Department was moved to publish the report, at last, following the announcement by Health Secretary John Reid of additional funding to address the chronic shortage of dentists in the UK. The report includes some interesting references to projected numbers of Professionals Complementary to Dentistry (PCDs) and future skill mix within the dental team.

The review team anticipate that the number of dental hygienists in the UK will remain more or less static, at around 4,000. However, they project that numbers of dental therapists will increase significantly, from the current level of around 400 to over 1,100 by 2011 and over 2,700 by 2031. It is projected that the proportion of the ‘core dental team’ (defined as dentists, hygienists and therapists) made up by PCDs will rise steadily to around a fifth by 2031 - roughly double the current proportion.

The report points out that ‘Team working in dentistry is ... taking root as a result of extensions in the range of duties that dental therapists and dental hygienists may carry out; and as a result of the General Dental Council's plans for the registration of other PCDs including dental technicians and dental nurses.’

The report says that the development of team working in dentistry ‘can help to ensure that dentists spend more of their time working at the higher end of their skill level, rather than carrying on work that could be undertaken by PCDs, thus enabling more effective deployment of dentists' specialist skills’. However, the report does not go into any detail about what skills and tasks might in future be delegated to PCDs.

The report also does not give projected workforce figures for PCDs other than hygienists and therapists, as the necessary data on which to construct workforce supply models will not be available until those PCD groups (dental nurses, dental technicians and others) are subject to statutory registration.

The full text of the report can be downloaded from the Department of Health website: http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/08/60/76/04086076.pdf