The University of East Anglia (UEA) has welcomed the Government's Dental Recovery Plan which affirms a new commitment to provide additional NHS dental services.

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The Plan, launched last month, includes a commitment to more training places ‘in a way that is targeted to improve provision in areas of the country where it is most needed'. It commits to exploring ‘the creation of new dental schools in currently under-served parts of the country'.

Professor David Maguire, Vice-Chancellor at the University of East Anglia, said: ‘We are pleased that the Government's Dental Recovery Plan includes the opportunity for new dental schools in England to provide the next generation of dentists. We will continue to press the Government to allocate new undergraduate dental places to those areas, like Norfolk, where the NHS dental access need is most acute and where a new dental school can have the greatest impact.

‘Within the next couple of years, UEA and our partners could play a crucial role in delivering, and maintaining in the long-term, much needed NHS dental services to the people of East Anglia.'

The Norwich Centre for Dental Development, established at UEA last year, is the first step towards launching a formal bid for an undergraduate Dental School at UEA. Alongside the Norwich Medical School, it brings together local partners, including the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) and the Quadram Institute, which specialises in food and health research (including digestive health). UEA will seek to collaborate with further education providers and other universities in the East to provide the range of dental skills that are in such short supply throughout this region.

UEA is about to start work on a new, state-of-the-art Anatomy Suite, located opposite the NNUH, to support practical anatomical teaching for medical and allied health profession students. If the Government allows UEA to offer undergraduate dental training, these plans could be extended to include capacity for a new Dental School by 2025.

Dr Bernard Brett, Interim Medical Director at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, said: ‘We have worked collaboratively with UEA for more than 20 years developing successive generations of skilled health professionals, such as doctors, nurses, midwives and allied health professionals. We fully support UEA's plans for a dental school which will bring benefits for our local population and will complement the high quality teaching and education programmes being delivered by the University and the Hospital.'