Politicians in Northern Ireland have acknowledged that dentist income has fallen over the past decade, according to BDA Northern Ireland (NI).

The union received a letter on 12 October 2018 from the Department of Health's Permanent Secretary, Richard Pengelly, which acknowledged 'there has been a material reduction in dentist income over the last 10 years'.

Responding to a previous letter sent by BDA NI, Pengelly said it was unclear how much of this related to the health service and how much of it was a reduction in private income.

The BDA wrote to Pengelly asking that the Department put in place a dedicated work stream aimed at addressing the legacy of almost a decade of falling dental incomes and rising expenses.

In response, Pengelly said he would welcome any exploratory work the BDA might wish to undertake to gather evidence of increases in costs or reductions in incomes from dentists to support discussions between the BDA, the Department and the Health and Social Care Board.

Northern Ireland Dental Practice Committee Chair Richard Graham said: 'It is a positive development that the Permanent Secretary has acknowledged there has been a reduction in dentist income over the past decade, and that this has been materially significant.

'We also welcome the opportunity offered to us to engage directly with officials around evidence of increased costs and reduced incomes.

'Quite simply, it costs GDPs far more now to deliver Health Service dentistry than it did 10 years ago; expenses have increased at a far faster rate than pay uplifts, resulting in average taxable income falling by 38.1% for practice owners, and by 28.2% for associates between 2008-09 and 2016-17 in real terms. Clearly, this is not sustainable.'

The union would be stepping up its engagement with Department in the coming months, he added, saying: 'We will be making a robust case in favour of adequate remuneration for the real cost of delivering Health Service dentistry. Particularly as another significant underspend in the GDS looks likely, the Department of Health has a duty to be forthcoming with additional investment.'