Your NHS dentistry and oral health update 

7 February 2025 

Updates from Jason Wong, Chief Dental Officer

The start of the year also saw two notable members of our profession being recognised for their talent and efforts. Pam Swain, Chief Executive of the British Association of Dental Nurses, and Pepe Shirlaw, honorary consultant for the OCDO, LDN Chair for London and oral medicine consultant, were awarded MBEs. These awards are thoroughly well deserved, and I would like to take this opportunity to personally congratulate both Pam and Pepe.

14-15 March 2025 sees the return of the BDIA Showcase where I am proud to host the CDO zone once again. Whilst this is a chance for the CDO team to present our work and host dental subject matter experts, I am also keen for it to be an opportunity where the profession can feed back to us. If you are planning on attending, please do stop by and have a chat. I am pleased to see the Minister of State for Care Stephen Kinnock has also confirmed his attendance, as has Professor Brian Cox.

One update that will be presented at the Showcase will be the avoidance of doubt policy on self-funded dental treatment requiring NHS intervention. This policy paper was published just before the Christmas break and offers guidance to clinicians managing patients that are experiencing complications from self-funded treatment.

Finally, on the horizon we have 2 special focus bulletins, the first providing an update on patient safety and another exploring wellbeing.

Kind regards,
Jason Wong

NHS operational planning and contracting guidance

In line with the Government Mandate, the recently published 2025/26 priorities and operational planning guidance sets out a focused, smaller number of national priorities for 2025/26, with an emphasis on improving access to timely care for patients, driving reform, increasing productivity and living within allocated budgets.

The national priorities identified to improve patient outcomes in 2025/26 are:

• Improving patients’ access to general practice and to urgent dental care, providing 700,000 additional urgent dental appointments.
• Reducing the time people wait for elective care.
• Improving A&E waiting times and ambulance response times compared to March 2024/25.
• Improve patient flow through mental health crisis and acute pathways, including improving access to children and young people’s (CYP) mental health services.

To help fulfil these priorities, NHS England will transfer a higher proportion of funding directly to local systems and minimise ringfencing, allowing local leaders maximum flexibility to plan better and provide more efficient services to best meet the needs of their local population.

Avoidance of doubt: Clinical policy for self-funded dental treatment requiring NHS intervention

In addition to the Oral healthcare provision for cancer pathways guidance document shared in our previous bulletin, we are pleased to have published clinical policy to help support the appropriate management of dental patients on the NHS.

The policy sets guidelines for the NHS dental management of patients who are experiencing complications from self-funded dental treatment received in the UK or abroad and outlines how to stabilise the potential urgent oral health concerns faced by these patients.

Key points:

1. Access to NHS care: Patients can receive NHS treatment for complications after self-funded dental care. Such patients may present to primary or secondary dental or medical care settings, or via NHS 111.
2. Assessment and treatment: Patients are assessed and diagnosed. An acute management plan is created to meet the immediate and reasonable oral health needs of the patient, as deemed clinically appropriate.
3. NHS criteria: All potential treatments will be based upon NHS acceptance criteria.
4. Treatment beyond stabilisation: This is based on the patients’ needs and complexity of interventions required.
5. Urgent care: A clear strategy is in place for managing and resolving urgent dental concerns, such as pain and infection.
6. Provider responsibility: Patients are advised to first seek help from their original self-funded provider where possible, prior to seeking NHS intervention.

The OCDO was also pleased to be invited by the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) England to a patient safety and surgery abroad roundtable discussion to address the growing concerns of poor care experienced by UK patients travelling abroad for treatment. Present challenges and possible solutions to protect patient safety and reduce the burden on the health services of managing complications from such treatment were deliberated by stakeholders from across the NHS, healthcare associations, regulators, national government and Royal Colleges.

Scientific Conference

The OCDO was delighted to host our inaugural Scientific Conference held at Birmingham Dental School on Friday 24 January, which more than 120 guests affiliated with leading national healthcare groups attended. The event featured a spectrum of talks delivered by accomplished dental experts in the areas of clinical dental research and policy development.

Our profession is proud to have a number of innovative policy researchers, but how well do we translate their work into improvements in our clinical guidance? How do we operationalise sound data into frontline changes and what are the gaps in our current knowledge base? These were the questions that the conference intended to answer.

Panel discussions, interactive presentations and networking opportunities fostered dialogue amongst key stakeholder groups and facilitated feedback on how the profession delivers quality care, whilst exploring evidence-based ways of improving the oral healthcare sector for our workforce and patients.

Key speakers included:

• CDO Jason Wong setting the national scene and outlining the need for system level vision.
• Professor Iain Chapple presenting his groundbreaking work on the health economics of periodontal disease, advocating for focus on early disease prevention.
• Professor Avi Banerjee reinforced the importance of applying clinical judgement when implementing caries management guidelines.
• Professor Janet Clarkson outlined how the evidence we produce goes on to become guidance, however that the incredible quantity of analysis being carried out across the research field also risks loss of focus. She also used the Scottish Dental Effectiveness Programme (SDCEP) as an example of how usability is key when publishing guidelines if they are to be adopted by front line colleagues.
• Professor Gallagher presented an international picture of workforce trends and where skill mix may be best utilised to enable increased care provision.
• Professor Zoe Marshman launched an NIHR-backed incubator aiming to build capacity and develop careers into oral health research, as well as discussing both the gaps and barriers facing policy development and the priorities of policy makers.

An interactive discussion and question and answer session at the end of the day enabled audience participation. This feedback will be reviewed by the OCDO and used to inform future workstreams.

Pictured above: top left: Janet Clarkson's opening slide, top right: Divyash Patel, Dental Clinical Lead for OCDO, bottom: panel of speakers (L-R) Prof. Tim Newton, Prof. Iain Chapple, Jason Wong, Prof. Zoe Marshman, Prof. Janet Clarkson, Prof. Jenny Gallagher and Prof. Avi Banerjee.

British Dental Industry Association (BDIA) Dental Showcase

We look forward to once again engaging with members of our profession in person at the upcoming BDIA Dental Showcase on 14 – 15 March 2025 at the ExCel, London. The Showcase represents a valuable opportunity for learning and discussion, bringing together experts from across the field, industry leaders and all members of the dental team, into one unique space. In order to meet the challenges of modern-day healthcare our profession must be dynamic, and the Showcase is the ideal setting in which to discuss key oral health matters.

At the Showcase the OCDO team will be at their CDO Zone, with Jason Wong delivering the keynote address to open both days of the conference. Our programme features respected colleagues covering a diverse range of topics that are relevant to the entire profession. Sessions will cover contemporary oral health challenges and opportunities including skill mix, training pathways, wellbeing, communication and the interlink between oral and systemic health. Key insights on the latest policies will also be given by the individuals who have developed them.

Hopefully we will see you there. Register for your tickets to attend here.

Pictured above: images from the 2024 BDIA Dental Showcase including Jason Wong opening the event.

2025 NASDAL Dental Check by One Practice of the Year Award

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Recent dentistry and oral health bulletins 

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Special focus bulletins 

The Office of the Chief Dental Officer and the NHS England team regularly produce 'special focus bulletins' on clinical priorities and key aspects of patient care. These bulletins summarise the key information dental teams need to know and act as a refresher, combining best practice, expert opinion and useful resources. If you would like to suggest a topic for a future special focus bulletin please email the CDO's team at England.CDOExecutive@nhs.net