Over the past year, we have been expanding our membership offering and fighting for political change. Discover how we are making an impact – for dentistry and for you.
As the voice of dentistry in the UK, we have spoken out on behalf of the profession and the millions they treat.
Building pressure in parliament and in the press, we secured commitments for reform from parties across the political spectrum and are continuing to press the new Government to turn their promises into action. We built a coalition for change, and together with the Daily Mirror, 38 Degrees and the Women’s Institute, mobilised hundreds of thousands of supporters. We exposed sticking plaster policies – a ‘Recovery Plan’ that was unworthy of the title, alongside desperate plans to tie-in young dentists to a broken system.
We spelled out the risks to politicians and officials in London, Belfast and Brussels. The European Parliament’s decision was set to hit care in all four UK nations, with a disproportionate impact in Northern Ireland which would have been expected to deliver a phase out on the same basis as EU member states from the New Year.
In evidence we gathered, 9 in 10 dentists in Northern Ireland said the ban would lead their practice to reduce or end its NHS commitment. These dentists now have a reprieve until 2034 – the first, and so far only, time the EU has granted an opt of its laws since Brexit.
We stood shoulder to shoulder with our medical colleagues at the picket lines for over a year of industrial action at hospitals across the UK. Our members have now backed deals in all four UK nations, with dental trainees in England securing a pay uplift of 22.3% over two years.
During the last year we continued to engage with key stakeholders including the Scottish Government on payment reform.
Feedback from the profession has informed our discussions, with 88% of respondents saying this cannot be the end of the road to reform.
We continued to work with the BMA on pay negotiations for hospital dentists. A new pay offer was secured for consultants following our entering a formal dispute with the Scottish Government over consultant pay.
Our major win this year was on dental amalgam: from the threat of having a ban imposed on Northern Ireland (NI) and considering the huge impact this would have had on Health Service dentistry, to securing a bespoke derogation against the odds.
On 19 July, the European Commission agreed to the continued use of dental amalgam in NI until 31 December 2034, or until a date agreed under the Minamata Convention on Mercury, whichever is earlier.
The work put in behind the scenes to this effort included inputs from right across our association. It also involved political engagement at the NI devolved nation level, right up to the UK Government negotiating with the European Union.
Working alongside the BMA, a new pay deal for NI HDS Consultants was secured in August, approved by 100% of members balloted with a turnout of 65%.
We continued to highlight the exodus of NHS Dentists in NI and the need for GDS contract/dental payment reform: our open letter in January co-signed by 720 GDPs; meeting with the Minister in March; and our oral evidence to the Assembly Health Committee in June.
A £9.2m dental access scheme was announced on 27 March.
We drove GDS contract reform in the right direction, reining in the worst excesses of clawback, while continuing negotiations with the Welsh Government for a new GDS contract.
We worked with HEIW to develop an effective strategic workforce plan that addresses the dental team of the future.
We re-established the CDS Joint Forum, now Community Dental Business Group, to now hold negotiating power and allow collaboration between Welsh Government, BDA Wales and NHS Wales for the improvement of the Welsh CDS.
Topics discussed include the terms and conditions for the CDS, recruitment and retention, the appraisal system for the CDS and the upcoming BDA Wales vision paper for the CDS.
Our teams have taken over 9,400 phone calls, responded to over 8,600 emails and supported our members to solutions through mediation. We share our collective knowledge and expertise and support members throughout their professional lives.
Our cover provides you with a professional shield against legal and regulatory challenges. We already fight hard for our members and dentists alike and believe that our insurance simplifies your dental experience; giving you the peace of mind you deserve.
We continue to offer many great features that make our cover so special.
Specific to the UK nation(s) where you practise
Personalised according to the hours you work
Dependent on whether you provide implant treatments
Discounted for newly qualified dentists, up to five years post-qualification
Our events portfolio covers a broad spectrum of topics delivered through interactive training days, lecture-based seminars, practical hands-on workshops, multi-speaker conferences, and live evening webinars. This year we continued to provide the whole dental team with the knowledge and CPD needed to keep up to date.
Loving that the webinars are continuing. They are partly why I continue with my membership.
Thank you for continuing to organise these webinars. They are so useful, especially for rural dentists like me. I very much appreciate all the time and effort put into organising them.
I managed to see a lot of familiar faces I had not seen in years, which was nice. All of the lectures have been really great, so informative, really relevant, very realistic with very passionate and engaging speakers.
We launched 5 new online courses, via a completely refreshed look and feel for our CPD Hub, providing dentists with the latest information and training:
IRMER: Dental radiography and radiation protection
Medical emergencies: Cardiac Arrest
Medical emergencies: Choking
Single unit implant restorations workshop
Searching with Ovid MEDLINE.
And we released a core CPD package available on demand, designed with 9 GDC-recommended topics for dentists and teams to meet regulatory requirements.
Our library had a significant year expanding resources and increasing accessibility. Nearly 200 different package titles were accessed online, with our most accessed package titles being Sustainable Dentistry, Occlusion, and Remote & Teledentistry.
This year we also tailored our support to students by expanding our student loan offering and the amount they can borrow at once.
We also created 11 new packages on current topics such as artificial intelligence in various aspects of dentistry, along with additional focused packages on Mpox, E-scooters & E-bikes, and systematic reviews related to dental caries. A collection of eBooks related to dental teaching is also now available.
Our museum ran two exhibitions in the Wimpole Street foyer for visitors to enjoy. The first focused on the development of the curing light and its huge impact on restorative dentistry and was made possible with a number of display donations from members and from the trade.
The second temporary exhibition explored the student instrument cabinet, eventually phased out by dental schools due to changes in infection control. Through our online survey and contacts, we generated much discussion and interest from the profession including donations of photographs, reminiscences and donations of cabinets. Thank you to everyone who responded to our requests.
Our BDJ Portfolio had 8,237,937 article downloads this year, with over 1,272 articles published across BDJ, BDJ Open and EBD. It continues to inform readers of ideas, opinions, developments and key issues in dentistry - clinical, practical and scientific - to spark interest, debate and discussion amongst dentists and their teams.
There were 14,899 applications made on BDJ Jobs by those looking to take the next step in their careers.
The three most popular BDJ articles with the highest downloads in 2024 were:
9.9k accesses - Oral lichen planus and lichenoid lesions - challenges and pitfalls for the general dental practitioner
8.6k accesses - Oral manifestations of long COVID and the views of healthcare professionals
7.6k accesses - Proliferative verrucous leukoplakia: a general dental practitioner-focused clinical review
While the [impact] report doesn’t showcase [everything], it does help paint a picture of the work our teams put in and the resources they provide year after year. We care deeply for our members and are committed to fighting for the future of dentistry.
Dear members and supporters,
We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our annual impact report for 2024, which represents the work we’ve done over the past year to support members and improve conditions for all dentists wherever they practice within the UK.
While the report doesn’t showcase the hours spent one-on-one with members, nor does it provide a transcript of every letter, call and email submitted to MPs across the devolved nations, it does help paint a picture of the work our teams put in and the resources they provide year after year. We care deeply for our members and are committed to fighting for the future of dentistry.
During my travels around the country this year, I encountered numerous dentists who initially believed they didn’t need our support. They were convinced that online communities could provide the advice they might require. However, a pattern emerged that was both telling and troubling: when these individuals found themselves facing genuine professional challenges, they quickly realised the critical value of our organisation. One conversation stands out – I met a young practitioner who had navigated a complex workplace issue where she'd fallen foul of the terms and conditions of service. She’d tried to handle this on her own and with the support of her online network to no avail, only to discover afterward how much potential legal and professional protection she had missed by not being a member. Her story is a powerful reminder of our core mission.
There is a reason why we say, ‘Together, we are stronger.’
Richard Graham
President
British Dental Association
We believe, as a membership organisation, our duty is to serve the needs of our members. As a trade union, our fundamental belief is that together, we can achieve more than we could individually.
Using these core values to guide the organisation, over the next year we will continue to:
Be inclusive
Support our members throughout their professional lives
Use our influence for the benefit of members, the dental profession and patients
Share our collective knowledge and expertise.
