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Recruitment and retention trends in UK dentistry: 2015 - 2023

BDJ In Practice volume 37, pages 120–122 (2024)Cite this article

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Access to an NHS dentist, wait times, DIY dentistry are all topics frequenting in the UK news headlines, all as a direct result of workforce and recruitment and retention issues within UK dentistry. Whilst government attempts to tackle issues with the NHS Long Term Workforce plan and NHS dental recovery plan published in June 2023 and February 2024, respectively, have been likened to ‘filling a leaky bucket' and ‘unworthy of its title' given government's failure to embrace the need for fundamental reform.1

‘It was always my intention to completely stay within the NHS. But it's unaffordable to do so. This is me wanting to pay my mortgage. You can't make a living without doing private work. Your private work is what allows you to do NHS dentistry.' Associate, England

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Reference

  1. British Dental Association. News release: Provisional registration plans: Ministers try to fill leaky bucket. February 2024. Available online at: www.bda.org/news-and-opinion/news/provisional-registration-plans-ministers-try-to-fill-leaky-bucket/ (accessed March 2024).

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  1. British Dental Association, London, United Kingdom

    Ella Buckland

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  1. Ella Buckland
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Correspondence to Ella Buckland.

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Buckland, E. Recruitment and retention trends in UK dentistry: 2015 - 2023. BDJ In Pract 37, 120–122 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-024-2672-3

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