NHS dental rates will rise by another 4 per cent in April in a “slap in the face” for patients.
This means the price of a basic check will increase from £25.80 to £26.80.
Meanwhile, fillings will cost an extra £3 and patients will be charged £73.50 instead of the current £70.70.
More complicated treatment, such as dentures, will cost another £12.30; It is now priced at £319.10, down from £306.80.
The British Dental Association said the charges will not “pull NHS dentistry back from the brink” and that hard-pressed families will be forced to “pay more for less”.
Prices for NHS dental treatments will increase from April 1 this year.
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It comes amid an NHS dental crisis, with millions of patients in England struggling to access state-subsidized dental care.
Desperate Britons have queued since 4am for limited NHS appointments, while others have flown to war-torn Ukraine in search of cheaper private dentistry.
Some have even resorted to home dentistry.
Despite the upcoming price rise, the cost of NHS treatment will still be cheaper than going.
Basic checks at private check-ups can cost upwards of £75. Wreaths can cost up to around £800.
Shawn Charlwood, chair of general dental practice at the British Dental Association (BDA), said: “This latest rise is another slap in the face for struggling families across England.
‘This will not do a single penny to bring NHS dentistry back from the brink.
“The Government is asking the public to pay more for less service.”
Charlwood demanded ministers explain why they had not adopted a similar approach in Wales and kept NHS treatment prices low.
The price of NHS dental treatment across the border can be almost half that in England.
Basic NHS dental checks in Wales cost just £14.70, while crowns are closer to £200.
Mr Charlwood said: “Ministers need to explain why patients in England are expected to pay £100 more than their Welsh cousins for identical treatment on the NHS.”
The BDA has warned that price increases can have real impacts on Britons’ oral health.
A survey by the union last year found that almost one in four Britons surveyed had delayed or missed out on dental care because of the price.
Responding to the BDA’s comments, a Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “We offer a wide range of support to ensure that everyone who needs dental care can afford it.”
‘More than 47 per cent of people are eligible for free dental care and last year the NHS provided more than 15.4 million free treatments under these exemptions, including children, people on low incomes and pregnant women.
“Where charges are applied, it is important that they are updated to reflect increases in the cost of providing NHS dental care.”
Only a limited number of Britons are entitled to completely free NHS care; everyone else has to pay.
Those receiving free treatment include children, pregnant women and new mothers, and people receiving some benefits.
Last month, the Government finally unveiled its long-awaited NHS dental recovery plan, aiming to “put NHS dentistry on a sustainable footing”.
The crisis in NHS dentistry has been brewing for years, with some Britons forced to pull their teeth out with pliers or travel abroad to see a dentist due to a lack of places in the UK. Others have queued since 4am to get a place at dental surgeries that have opened their list to NHS patients. Pictured is the queue of people outside Saint Pauls Dental Practice, in St Paul’s, Bristol, which police were forced to break up last month.
Despite queuing for hours, patients were met with a sign on the door that read: “We are not enrolling any more patients.” Pictured is the sign outside St Pauls Dental Practice earlier this week.
Under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s bold plan to solve the appointment crisis affecting millions of people, dentists will be offered up to £50 to see patients who have not had a check-up in the last two years.
Additionally, up to 240 dentists wishing to relocate to “dental deserts” will receive a “golden hello” of £20,000.
The Government is also controversially planning to add fluoride to the drinking water of millions of Britons in a bid to passively protect their oral health.
But the overall plan, unveiled 10 months after it was promised, was criticized by dental chiefs and politicians for not going far enough.
The BDA has said this would amount to “rearranging the sun loungers” and will not bring the desired and much-needed change.
Instead, health leaders called for a “radical reform” of the NHS dental contract, accusing Mr Sunak of doing a U-turn on his promise to restore the crippled industry.
Figures show 24,151 dentists worked in the NHS in England in 2022-23, down from 24,272 in the previous financial year, a fall of 121 year-on-year.
The total is also around 500 fewer than the number of dentists who carried out health services work in 2019-20, the last year before the Covid pandemic broke out.
The BDA fears that the numbers could fall further, to below 24,000, a figure that has not been recorded since 2014-15.
Experts have also raised the terrifying prospect that cases of oral cancer, which are typically detected in their earliest and most treatable stages during routine dental checkups, may go undetected due to the appointment crisis.