Britain's dental giant MyDentist rakes in millions of pounds as surgeries abandon NHS
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Britain's biggest dentistry business is raking in tens of millions of pounds in profit while its NHS work shrinks, a Mirror investigation reveals. MyDentist, which runs more than 500 practices with over four million patients, has tripled the size of its private practice amid a national crisis over access to NHS dentists.
The Mirror called 100 practices on the MyDentist website listed as “NHS and private” and discounted those it listed as “private only”. But even among those it says are NHS practices, only nine out of 100 were taking on new adult patients. Many played a waiting message pitching its private treatment, offering “the dental care you’ve always dreamed of”.
The Mirror launched its Dentists for All campaign after funding cuts and a failing NHS payment system decimated access to NHS treatment. MyDentist denies it has a deliberate strategy to stop taking new NHS patients and told the Mirror it is an individual dentist’s decision how much NHS provision to take on.
Sign our petition to save NHS dentistry and make it fit for the 21st century. Everyone should have access to an NHS dentist. More than 12 million people were unable to access NHS dental care last year – more than 1 in 4 adults in England. At the same time 90% of dental practices are no longer accepting new NHS adult patients. Data from the House of Commons Library showed 40% of children didn't have their recommended annual check-up last year.
