The Department of Health announced just before Christmas that dental pilots will begin in April and will test new contract models that focus on providing continuing care for registered patients and improving access. They will also explore ways of moving away from the target-driven basis of the current dental contract and instead focusing on prevention and quality of care.

Dr John Milne, Chair of the BDA's General Dental Practice Committee, said: 'The announcement is an important, positive step towards the goal of improving NHS dental care for patients across England. The current arrangements, which were implemented in 2006, have failed to promote preventive care for patients and have been deeply unpopular with dentists. The BDA has campaigned hard for a re-think and we are encouraged that the Department of Health is to begin testing new ways of delivering care. We are pleased that two principles that we believe are particularly important – quality of care and a continuing care relationship between practitioner and patient – are central to what is being piloted.

'Getting the detail of these changes right will be crucial to their success. These pilots must be afforded sufficient time for their impact on oral health to be properly understood and the results from them must be fully evaluated. It will also be crucial that input from the profession is taken into account and that meaningful engagement continues as the pilots crystallise into permanent changes.'