The European Parliament's vote to ban dental amalgam from 1 January 2025 ‘will have significant impacts on NHS dentistry', the BDA warns.

On 14 July, the European Commission adopted a proposal to revise the Mercury Regulation, to introduce a total phase-out of the use of dental amalgam and prohibit the manufacture and export of dental amalgam from the EU from 1 January 2025 - five years earlier than expected. This vote will hit all four home nations but will have a disproportionate impact on services in Northern Ireland, which tops the UK league table for oral health inequality, and has the highest proportion of filled teeth.

Under post Brexit arrangements, Northern Ireland will be expected to phase out dental amalgam on the same basis as EU member states. Divergence means the rest of the UK faces disruption and higher costs given the impact on supply chains, but not a formal ban.

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© SEBASTIAN KAULITZKI/Science Photo Library/Getty

MEPs backed amendments stating that Member States need to ‘ensure appropriate reimbursement is made available for mercury-free alternatives' to limit the socio-economic impact. That is precisely what's needed from UK Governments.

Without action a ban will eat into clinical time and resource that are in short supply, likely creating further access barriers. There are no indications where the millions in additional funding required will come from nor the workforce to carry out the tens of thousands of extra clinical hours.

The Nuffield Trust warned in December that NHS dentistry was at the most precarious moment in its 75-year history. Without decisive action, this ban will only hasten the service's demise.

BDA Chair Eddie Crouch said: ‘When we are set to lose a key weapon in the treatment of tooth decay all four UK Governments appear asleep at the wheel. When alternative materials can't compete, this will add new costs and new uncertainties to practices already on the brink. Without decisive action this could be the straw that breaks the back of NHS dentistry.'