The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned that growing bureaucracy is destroying the morale of high street dentists in England and could be driving practitioners to retire early or leave the NHS.

Nearly half of all high street dentists reported that their morale has fallen during the past 12 months, with a third reporting in a BDA survey that their morale is now either low or very low. More than 60% said that growing administration was to blame. Rising expenses and continuing problems with the 2006 contract, including a lack of time to provide preventive care to patients, were also cited as major factors in the profession's decline in confidence.

The BDA is concerned that adding a further layer of bureaucracy – the registration of dental practices with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) – which comes into force in 2011, could exacerbate the problems and drive many dentists to retire early.

The BDA has compiled a support kit for dentists as CQC registration begins. This all-in-one digital pack collates current BDA guidance and relevant legislation, with an outline of the 16 outcomes integral to the system. Users will have access to over 40 models, templates and protocols covering the CQC compliance standards.

The BDA is also calling on the Care Quality Commission to explain the calculations behind its proposed fee scale to register dental practices, following concerns that single practice owners could end up subsidising owners of larger practices.

With registration fees for one practice proposed to start at £1,500, the sliding scale means that the more practices a provider owns, the cheaper the unit cost, despite the CQC's assertion that the cost of registration would be linked directly to providers' responsibility for meeting the essential standards.

John Milne, Chair of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee, said that the CQC must explain how it calculated its proposed fee scale, 'otherwise this is a pointless exercise and will only further erode the profession's confidence in a regulation process which seems unnecessary.'

The BDA's CQC support kit is available online free of charge for BDA members. http://www.bda.org/shop