Government to address dental care

Tuesday June 8th 2010

The Government is to carry out a review of the NHS dentistry system and will put forward reform proposals once they have consulted profession and patient groups.

Earl Howe, the parliamentary under-secretary of State for Health with responsibility for dentistry, told the House of Lords that ministers will look at the details of the "system we have inherited".

His speech during the fifth day of the Queen's Speech Debate was in reaction to Conservative peer Lord Colwyn, who said that "the decisions made in this Parliament to transform the delivery of NHS dentistry will be extremely important".

Lord Colwyn praised the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition administration's commitment to dentistry in the Programme for Government.

Himself a dental surgeon, Lord Colwyn also said that the new Government must tackle inequalities in oral health to "close the unacceptable chasm which exists between those with good and poor oral health".

Copyright © Press Association 2010

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