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Where is the money?

BDJ In Practice volume 38, pages 76–79 (2025)Cite this article

It simultaneously makes the world go round and is the root of all evil. Some juxtaposition. There never seems to be enough to spread around - in the UK, the bottom 50% of the population owned less than 5% of wealth in 2021 - yet the top 10% owned a staggering 57% of wealth in the same year.1 Rather like what the profession of ours see on a daily basis, inequality rages, and is only getting wider.

Before settling down to write this piece, I looked through content from 2018 and 2019, and 2023 and 2024. I wanted to see how many times a spokesperson in an article described their field or the profession as ‘over-stretched and underfunded' and quite frankly, it was a ludicrous number - somewhere in the region of 140, roughly three times per issue. Money has been, is, and will likely be, a stumbling block to ensuring we have a profession and service that does what the NHS was meant to do all those years ago - serve the people it needs.

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References

  1. The Jospeh Roundtree Foundation. Changing the narrative on wealthy inequality. May 2024. Available online at: www.jrf.org.uk/narrative-change/changing-the-narrative-on-wealth-inequality (accessed February 2025).

  2. British Dental Association. News release: Government pedalling myths on NHS dentistry. March 2024. Available online at: www.bda.org/media-centre/government-pedalling-myths-on-nhs-dentistry/ (accessed February 2025).

  3. myTribe. Private Dental Treatment Costs in the UK: 2022-2024 Research Report. December 2024. www.mytribeinsurance.co.uk/news/private-dental-costs-soar-our-research (accessed February 2025).

  4. Letter. NHS Dentistry - Annual Uplift for 2024/25. From: Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care. 21 January 2025. Available online at: www.bda.org/media/zcep22sg/21-01-2025_m-dentistry-2024-25-annual-uplift-for-independent-contractors.pdf (accessed February 2025).

  5. Letter. The future of NHS General Dental Services. From: BDA Welsh General Dental Practice Committee (WGDPC). 17 February 2025. Available online at: www.bda.org/media/p0ijhaei/2502017-bda-cymru-jm-ms-ddrb-final.pdf (accessed February 2025).

  6. Office for National Statistics. Inflation and price indices. Release date: 19 February 2025. Available online at: www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices (accessed February 2025).

  7. Chestnutt I, Cope A. A retrospective analysis of NHS patient dental charges in England, Scotland and Wales. Br Dent J 2024; https://doi.org/10.1038/s41415-024-7739-3.

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  1. BDJ In Practice, London, United Kingdom

    David Westgarth

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  1. David Westgarth
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Correspondence to David Westgarth.

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Westgarth, D. Where is the money?. BDJ In Pract 38, 76–79 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41404-025-3060-3

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