BDA Warns of Repeated Dental Mistakes in COVID-19 Response

Impact of the Pandemic on UK Dentistry

UK: According to an article published on SD Magazine, the British Dental Association (BDA) has raised alarms about the long-lasting impact of decisions made by the previous UK Government during the COVID-19 pandemic. In evidence submitted to the UK COVID-19 Inquiry, the BDA detailed how the pandemic had a profound effect on dentistry, describing it as an outlier in healthcare with a disproportionately sharp decline in capacity and an exceptionally slow recovery.

The BDA highlighted that from 2020/21 to 2023/24, NHS dental capacity dropped by a staggering 33.3%, a far greater decrease compared to outpatient care (1.9%), Finished Consultant Episodes (7%), and A&E admissions (5.9%). By contrast, general practitioners had already compensated for the loss of patient contacts since the lockdown.

“This gulf has been sustained and eclipses even those parts of secondary care that have been subject to widespread industrial action,” the BDA stated in its analysis.

Delayed Recovery and Political Choices

The BDA attributed dentistry’s sluggish recovery to policy choices made by the former government regarding the suspension, restoration, and recovery of dental services. Eddie Crouch, Chair of the BDA, criticized the handling of the situation, saying, “No part of the health service took such a hit during the pandemic, and none has seen such a limited recovery. Yet dentistry isn’t even on the menu at this Inquiry.”

He added, “At lockdown, dentistry was treated like an optional extra. Subsequent failure to deliver needed reform turbocharged existing problems into a genuinely existential threat to the service. The crisis millions now face is the result of political choices.”

NHS Dentistry: England and Scotland’s Response

While the BDA’s analysis on treatment backlogs and NHS dental access focuses on England, it emphasized that Scotland experienced similar challenges. In response to the crisis, the UK Government unveiled a recovery plan for dentistry in England in February 2023, while the Scottish Government introduced a new payment reform for NHS dentistry in November 2022. However, these measures are yet to demonstrate substantial results in addressing the backlog or improving access.

Dentistry’s Limited Role in the COVID-19 Inquiry

The BDA has also expressed disappointment at the limited focus on dentistry in the UK COVID-19 Inquiry. To date, dentistry has been mentioned only twice in the context of the inquiry: once in correspondence dismissing it as “not an important” part of the process for Module 3, which investigates the pandemic’s impact on healthcare systems, and once to confirm the credentials of Professor Jason Leitch, Scotland’s former National Clinical Director.

A Call for Lessons Learned

The BDA warned that failing to learn from past mistakes could lead to further harm to essential healthcare services. “If lessons are not learned, we will see more collateral damage to core parts of our health service,” Crouch cautioned. The association has called for dentistry to be given due consideration in the inquiry to address the underlying issues that have turned the pandemic’s disruption into an ongoing crisis.

For further details, visit the original article at SD Magazine.