Still crazy after all these years

I,¹ and other commentators,^2,3 have expressed anxieties about the viability of NHS Dentistry in recent times. Indeed, I first spelt out the problems with the 2006 ‘new’ contract 2 years before it arrived.⁴ Nothing much has changed. The UDA payment system has been tweaked to make molar root canal fillings more attractive (perhaps not the correct word – perhaps less bankrupting fits better), but, the question must be asked – why has it taken all these 16 years to realize that, as the letter from NHS England states (written by Ali Sparke, Director for Dentistry, Community Pharmacy and Optometry NHS England and Sara Hurley, CDO England⁵) – ‘the provision of molar endodontic care to permanent teeth….can be more time consuming’. Any realist who has ever carried out a molar root canal filling would change ‘can be’ to ‘is’, which perhaps goes to show how out of touch those at the top of NHS Dentistry are with the world of general dentistry.