Dental industry figures gathered to discuss the industry recently at a Westminster Health Forum keynote seminar entitled The Future of Dentistry. The forum took place in the lead up to Professor Jimmy Steele's review into NHS dentistry in England due in mid-June

It examined issues around access to NHS treatment, tackling inequalities nationwide, and the changing role of dentists. The speakers called for the government to engage more closely with the profession.

The BDA's Executive Board Chair Susie Sanderson said in her keynote speech that the industry needed to learn from the problems facing dentistry in England as a result of the contract introduced in 2006.

She said, 'New systems will always need monitoring but given the failure to test key parts of the reform and the high profile of criticisms from many sectors, I think this review is timely and worthwhile. Jimmy Steele's review of the dentistry system gives an opportunity to learn the lessons and let's hope it is a genuine step forward.'

She added, 'All stakeholders have used access numbers over the last three years to demonstrate the failure of the new contract, but we still don't have a definition of access which lends anything to the drive to improve oral health in our communities and it is time to look at what the term access actually means. I believe that there are a few things that this review must achieve. The UDA must be scrapped as the major currency by which dentist's activity is measured as it does not encourage modern dentistry.'

Derek Watson, Chief Executive of the Dental Practitioners Association focussed on engagement between the government and the profession. Referring to access to dentistry, he said, 'The current government's approach to the problem we have is to devolve the management of the service to the regions, giving it an element of plausible deniability in an attempt to distance itself from supply problems. Dentistry, or the lack of it, however, has proved to be surprisingly resilient to cause for complaint, frequently coming at the top of public dissatisfaction poles where it jostles with MRSA for the top spot.'

'Dentistry has gone from the responsibility of the Minister to a now Parliamentary Under Secretary. In political popularity, it is second only to Northern Ireland in terms of brief. In my opinion, this is a governance problem.'

BDA's Executive Board Chair Susie Sanderson spoke at the event

Professor Richard Watt, Professor and Honorary Consultant of Dental Public Health, University College London said that there was no perfect system of remuneration of dentists.

'We have tried different systems in this country, around the world different systems have been tried, no system will be satisfactory to the three stakeholders, the public, the profession or the government. What we need is a system that is a compromise and fits the modern agenda, reflects the need of the population, the epidemiology of a population in an evidence-based fashion,' he said.

He called for tests and pilots of different models of care, stating that one system would not fit all. 'I think what we need is a pluralistic system of delivery of dental services. For some, registration may be important, for others, continuity of care or walk in services, more flexible types of services, delivered in different settings opening at different times. The models of care that we need to deliver need to be much broader and more imaginative in vision.

The forum was rounded up by Lord Colwyn, member of the Science and Technology Select Committee, who concluded, 'It is obvious to me that the new contract has really failed to meet the government's own criteria for success. The UDA is an unsatisfactory method of measuring dental activity and of monitoring of contract performance. It relates to consumption of time and resources and based on an out-dated model of dental care. I believe the UDA system should go, replaced by perhaps a contractual system that offers registration, capitation and utilises a skills mix approach.'