Dentists descended on Westminster today to demand the Government pays for a proper NHS service for all.

An open letter, signed by 1,300 dentists, will demand change as the total £3 billion funding for dentistry in England is currently only enough for half the population to get a dentist when they need one.

It marks 20 years of a “flawed” NHS dental contract which meant dentists made a loss treating patients who need the most work done - triggering an exodus of dentists to seeing only private patients. The Mirror has partnered with the British Dental Association (BDA) for the Dentists for All campaign.

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The BDA says that so far the government has only implemented “tweaks” to the flawed NHS dental contract such as allowing more dentists trained overseas to work in the NHS. The BDA says these “will not fix a contract that is forcing dentists out”.

BDA chair Eddie Crouch said: “NHS dentistry has faced twenty years of failed contracts and savage cuts. These tweaks are no substitute for fundamental reform and proper funding. They cannot be reasonably expected to keep a sinking ship afloat.”

Per head of population, the Westminster government puts in almost half less into dental services for England than devolved administrations do for other UK nations.

The total budget for NHS dentistry in England has remained at around £3 billion since 2010, with no attempt to keep pace with inflation or population growth. The British Dental Association estimates that this has translated into a real-terms budget cut of over a third.

The open letter, entitled ‘An Unhappy Birthday’, is addressed to PM Sir Keir Starmer and Health Secretary Wes Streeting and will be handed in at 10 Downing Street today.

It states: “Today a failed contract turns 20. That’s twenty years of hurt. Two decades of chaos, queues and cuts. Past Governments have written up manifesto pledges, then ignored them and today the fundamentals of that failed system remain in place. Tweaks will never be enough.”

Plans are underway to reform the NHS dental payment contract however the BDA insists whether this is effective will depend on the overall funding settlement.

So far the Treasury has been unwilling to provide substantial additional funds from the annual settlement NHS dentistry received under previous Tory governments.

The letter continued: “Reform without sustainable funding is doomed to fail. Today’s system was designed to cap spending. Its architects ensured there isn’t enough dentistry to go round. These choices - taken to new limits by austerity - mean we now have practices delivering NHS care at a loss.

"An exodus from the workforce that shows no sign of slowing. And nearly 14 million adults in England who can't access the care they need. Without sustainable funding NHS dentistry will remain built on sand. Without action here your promises to save this service simply cannot be kept.”

A new YouGov poll of 2,200 Brits conducted for the BMA shows two thirds believe funding for NHS dentistry should be increased. There was cross-party consensus with 59% of both Tory and Reform UK voters being in favour of greater funding, as well as 61% of Lib Dems, 70% of Labour and 72% of Greens.

A decade of Tory stealth cuts meant most dentists stopped taking on new adult NHS patients and desperate people are being forced to rip their own teeth out.

Since Labour came to power in 2014, overall satisfaction with the NHS has improved for the first time in years - however satisfaction with dentistry remains rock bottom.

British Social Attitudes survey revealed a 5.6% increase in satisfaction in the NHS in 2025 which was the first increase since the Covid-19 pandemic, but attitudes to NHS dentistry remained effectively unchanged. Only 22% were satisfied with NHS dentistry. As recently as 2019 satisfaction was at 60%. Satisfaction hit a record low of 20% in 2024.