What the BDA does

As a professional body and trade union, our duty is to serve the needs of our members.

We work to ensure that the voice of dentists is heard across the UK by providing data, briefings and information to the Government, lobbying for change to improve conditions for dentists and their teams. We listen when members speak up, using your stories and evidence from the frontline to bring dentists together and enact change.

Together we can achieve more than we can individually. Together, we are stronger.

Priorities

Learn about our current priorities.

Lobbying

Learn about our lobbying work in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Take action

Learn how to get involved in our campaigns.

Latest advocacy news

Sign our petition: Make sugar the new tobacco

Our latest research highlights the shocking amount of sugar in some baby food pouches, and we are encouraging all dental team members to join our call for government to take action.

Dental health crisis hitting women hardest

We're proud to join our friends from the National Federation of Women's Institutes (NFWI) in Westminster today for the launch of their latest campaign report, lifting the lid on how the access crisis is hitting women the hardest and deepening a uniquely gendered health crisis.

Welfare reform has pushed millions away from NHS dentistry

With up to half a million recipients of Tax Credit Certificates set to lose their access to free NHS dental care from April 6 we have interrogated official data, and found millions of patients have stopped accessing NHS dentistry since the transition to Universal Credit (UC), since transition began under the last government.

Northern Ireland: Fixing the CDS workforce crisis - The starting gun has been fired

We’ve issued the challenge to the authorities in Northern Ireland that workforce growth in the community dental services needs to start now.

Northern Ireland: Demanding clarity on backpay

We are insisting on urgent clarity on pay for GDPs in Northern Ireland, following a Department of Health announcement that backdated pay will not be implemented until at least May 2025.

Dental public health – vital jobs left on the line

With NHSE set to be abolished, we're leading the defence of a vital dental public function and calling for funds to be put to work on the frontline

Charges to rise: More stealth cuts from the Treasury

The latest increase in NHS patient charges have landed, another round of ‘stealth cuts’ that will not put a penny into the cash-strapped service.

Updates to the Scottish Dental Access Initiative and Recruitment and Retention Allowance

The latest remuneration changes in Scotland.

Dentists: Skimping on urgent care is fuelling antibiotic resistance

In an open letter to Wes Streeting, we have warned that a failure to fully meet demand for urgent dental care will only increase the pressures on our health service, as antibiotics become a substitute for treatment.

Government meeting less than 1/3 of unmet need for urgent care

Following a string of reports of DIY dentistry, and death – or near death – experiences from dental infections, we’ve found that government discovered demand for urgent care of 2.2 million but covered less than a third of it.   

Unity across dentistry in calls for registrant to chair GDC

Professional bodies and specialist societies have come together to sign an open letter calling for the next General Dental Council chair to be a registrant.

700,000 urgent appointments coming. Now restore care to millions

With commissioning finally set to begin on the Labour Government’s pledge of 700,000 new NHS urgent dental care appointments, we’ve stressed progress is now urgently required on promises to reform the broken contract fuelling the access crisis millions still face.

Campaigns and advocacy

The future of NHS dentistry: Our comprehensive plan

Dire need for change requires concrete reform. We have set out to government how we think dentistry needs to change to the benefit of dentists and your patients.

Read now

Representing you

Our vision for the CDS

The nation’s ability to deliver dental treatment for some of the most vulnerable groups in our society is at risk. Our vision is a call to action from English community dentists themselves on how to end a crisis that has gone under the radar of decision makers for far too long, asking all parties involved with community dentistry to make sure the service is finally given the priority it deserves.

Learn more Spread the word

A dark blue image with an icon of two hands holding a glowing tooth, with the words CDS Vision in white

By dentists for dentists

We are a not-for-profit organisation, owned and run by our members, who are the heart of everything we do.

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