"Rising Demand for Dental Treatment Abroad as UK System Deteriorates"
As the UK dental system faces a shortage of dentists and problems with government funding, a growing number of British people are seeking dental treatment abroad. Many individuals are traveling to countries like Turkey, Hungary, and Romania for basic dental procedures that they cannot access or afford in the UK. The closure of British clinics during COVID lockdowns has created a backlog, and people are now going abroad not just for cosmetic work but also for general dentistry. The UK dental industry body, the British Dental Association, highlights the flaws in the dental contract introduced by the government in 2006, which fails to distinguish between the complexity of treatments and leads to many practices operating at a loss. The government plans to increase dental training places by 40%, but critics argue that hiring more dentists without reforming the dental contract will not solve the problem.