Three quarters (75%) of dentists feel they have to work longer hours to maintain the same levels of dental pay.
Consequently 82% believe it is becoming harder to make a good income out of dentistry.
That’s according to Dentally’s The state of Dentistry 2019 report, which surveyed the views, challenges and moods of practice owners.
‘Understanding the views and mood of dentists and practice owners is important,’ Nick Davies, CEO and co-founder of Dentally, said.
‘We should be looking at how we can address the challenges they face now and how we can help them to adapt to the changing industry moving forward.
‘We need to address their administrative burden and commit to help dentists consistently deliver high quality care for patients.
‘This can improve day to day processes using technology to deliver automation and time saving innovation.
‘This ultimately will impact on their work life balance and morale.’
Administrative burden
More than three quarters (76%) of respondents feel dissatisfied with the state of dentistry at the moment.
Furthermore 61% feel dentistry is becoming a worse and less profitable profession to work in.
Dentally’s survey points to the burden of administration as the reason for reduced dental pay.
‘The stress of admin and regulation is strangling the industry,’ Dr Mide Ojo, owner and principal dentist at Refresh Dental, said.
‘The administrative burden is stopping many dentists from offering the very highest levels of care.
‘They have to focus on admin instead of clinical standards.’
Uplift in dental pay
The Department of Health and Social Care gave NHS dentists in England a 2.42% uplift in November.
The government first announced dentists’ pay rise in July, earlier this year.
DHSC (Department of Health and Social Care) says it will therefore backdate the pay increase to April 2019.
‘This much needed uplift should have been implemented in April,’ Eddie Crouch, chair of the BDA’s Review Body Evidence Committee, said.
‘Dentists will only receive this in November.
‘This long delay is pushing dentists to the edge.
‘We have written to DHSC and the chair of DDRB about our concerns.’
