As MLAs prepare to debate to crisis in the service, the British Dental Association Northern Ireland have warned that new measures announced to help ‘stabilise and safeguard’ access to Health Service dentistry must be followed by a fundamental reform of the dental payment system. [1] [2]
The professional body has acknowledged the significant efforts of the Health Minister to earmark additional funding measures for General Dental Services in 2026/27 at a time of severe budgetary pressures, but stresses this cannot be the end of the road.
New measures confirmed by the Minister include a boost for a support fund from £1.6m to £2m for dental practitioners who continue to provide Health Service dental care, alongside recurrent funding to uplift some dental fees, and continuation of the Enhanced Child Examination Scheme, which gives a one-off payment for seeing new child patients aged 0-10 years.
The professional body says that a plummeting number of patients registered to receive dental care and a growing exodus of dentists from the service requires a proportionate response. The number of HS dental treatments remains over a third below pre-pandemic levels. [3] Fewer than one million patients – just 50% - are now registered to receive Health Service dental care in Northern Ireland, in comparison with over 2 million patients registered with a GP. [4] Data published last month by the regulator the General Dental Council shows that NI dentists have much lower levels of commitment to NHS/HS dentistry than their peers in other parts of the country, and their commitment is falling much more rapidly than in other parts of the UK. [5]
The reason growing numbers of NI dentists are forced to scale down their HS commitment – or leave the service altogether – is the fundamental mismatch between fees paid by the government, and the true cost of providing modern dental care, with many practices effectively losing money by treating HS patients.
Dentist leaders stress this funding gap is now entirely unviable. They agree with the Minister that a Cost-of-Service review – commissioned by government in January 2025 – must provide the foundation for future reform.
Ciara Gallagher, Chair of the British Dental Association’s Northern Ireland Dental Practice Committee (NI DPC), said:
“We’re on the same page as the Minister. He doesn’t pretend these measures on their own will address all the challenges facing dentistry in Northern Ireland.
“Elements of this package are clearly hard-won but are insufficient to draw a line under the crisis we now face. Ultimately, this isn’t a ‘stabilisation’ plan if it can’t bring struggling practices back from the brink.
“Our Executive must now go further and faster and focus on the fundamentals. Dentists need to see a future in the NHS and know they won’t lose money treating NHS patients.
“NHS dentistry in Northern Ireland is on borrowed time. We need to see more honesty, alongside real urgency and ambition if it’s going to survive.”
ENDS
[1] Phillip Brett MLA has secured an adjournment debate in Stormont scheduled for Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 5-6PM, focusing on the "Lack of NHS Dental Places in North Belfast." He has highlighted that dental practices are facing severe financial strain and only maintaining limited NHS places out of local loyalty.
[2] The shape of the plan has already been confirmed to the BDA in correspondence from Minister Mike Nesbitt MLA.
[3] Dental Services for Northern Ireland, Quarterly Series to Q3 2025/26 – Provisional. Latest data show 733,574 treatments claims were made in the 9 months to end of December 2025, compared to 1,101,799 in the same period in 2019, a reduction in delivery of over a third.
[4] The service is shrinking at a truly unprecedented rate: by 17% over the past year alone, and a staggering 389,132 patients since early 2023, with all future projections pointing to this decline exacerbating.
[5] % of dentists spending 75% or more of their time on NHS work
| 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | |
| England | 39.3% | 38.8% | 38% |
| Scotland | 60.3% | 58.3% | 58.9% |
| Wales | 46.9% | 46.1% | 44.8% |
| Northern Ireland | 45.7% | 43.1% | 39.2% |
Source: Dental professionals’ working patterns data, GDC