A SHORTFALL in a government funding scheme aimed at supporting dental practices as they emerge from the Covid-19  pandemic will signal the "end of NHS dentistry", a local dentist has warned.

Mary-Claire Carroll of Sliabh Mór Dental Care said the Department of Health's 'Rebuilding Support Scheme' is "not financially viable" and will push many dentists to stop Health Service dental provision and turn towards private care.

The Kennedy Centre-based dentist, who led a protest at Health and Social Care Board (HSCB) headquarters, said the scheme does not cover the increasing costs of Health Service dentistry.

"I work in West Belfast in a really busy NHS practice, and we have a lot of vulnerable patients that rely on NHS dentistry," she said

"If that is scrapped I fear for the oral health of an already deprived area of the North. There should be a fair package for us to look after NHS patients, because ultimately it's them who are going to suffer. 

"This will push dentists to go private, which is not what I want at all. I want to do anything but that."

She continued: "In recent years there have been cuts in certain payments to NHS dentists, and I feel we've been heading towards this whether Covid happened or not.

"There has been a cut in commitment payments, which were there to entice dentists to stay in the NHS. I think this was coming no matter what and they're using Covid as an excuse to put this through. They're not calling it the end of NHS dentistry, but in essence that's what it is. If you look at the figures it just doesn't add up."

She added: "I would make more money if I went private, but I feel a moral and social responsibility to offer NHS dentistry in the area that I'm from."

Speaking following Friday's protest, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: “Dentists are sounding an alarm, warning that they may be forced to stop NHS provision entirely. This is a clear result of years of underfunding, creeping privatisation, and moves from the Health Minister which dentists protesting today say are not financially viable at all.

“The result is that people in my constituency and working class communities are unable to find local NHS dental services and are utterly priced out of private care. It is unbelievable in 2022, in a wealthy country, that people are dealing with dental rot because of lack of investment.

“These dentists recognise their patients are facing a cost of living crisis and they want to be able to provide NHS care. The costs of providing that care are rising steeply, however, and successive health ministers have failed to pay out enough to enable them to continue providing it."

Under the funding scheme, dentists will see a 25 per cent enhancement apply to dental fees, a downgrade from the 35 per cent increase that had previously been put forward.

The move has been criticised by the British Dental Association (BDA), which said the scheme will "do little to rebuild the shattered service."