Maxadolf: The government's efforts are not "well meaning". Is it merely a coincidence that every new regulation imposed by the General Dental Council could have come from a government shopping list designed to crush the dental profession? Once this is done we will see corporate practices staffed by auxilliaries and owned by nurses providing emergency and basic treatment only on budgets pared down to the bone. Meanwhile, while "prudent chancellor" Gordon Brown screws front line service providers in health and teaching, there is no limit to the billions that can be found for computer systems that do not work..........

Ian, London, UK

This report quotes “This has arisen because the Treasury and the Department of Health, which drew up the new contracts, were not talking to each other and have overlooked what appears to be an anomaly”.

That raises the question of why the Treasury and the Department of Health were ‘not talking to each other,’ and whether that might be linked with reports of reduced availability of NHS dental treatment in some parts of the UK.

It is by no means clear that all ‘Associate’ dentists in NHS practices have had a changed tax status from self-employed to employee agreed with their local Tax Inspectors, and that might account for a government minister arguing in correspondence seen by The Times that ‘there has been no change in dentists’ tax status.’

dr venables preller, Warminster, UK

This article is absolute rubbish. Over many years the Government reduced fees & removed items of treatment from the list they would fund so that only basic treatments are available. This has led to the situation where many practices are simply not paid enough by their PCT to cover the salaries of the nurses and reception staff, never mind the Dentists. Dentists have no choice other than make up the shortfall with private work or cease trading altogether. They therefore have to be self employed - as they always have been. They pay tax & NIC just as all self employed people do.
This new contract is purely a means of getting patients to pay higher fees for fewer, more basic treatments.
the public has been conned yet again, and the Dental profession has got the blame for a change they desperately opposed.

Louise, harrow,

The performance of this government on the control of NHS expenditure was a catastrophe with the medical profession. And now their cock-up with dentists has been exposed. Every result from their well meaning efforts is an abortion. When will we have true accountability among government ministers and civil servants? With an ever increasing population of parasitic, PC, self-serving civil servants, and protection of incompetent,senior government ministers by the most dangerously incompetent PM in living memory, Britain will surely be heading for anarchy among the ranks of its fleeced victims; this, despite Brown's claim to seek major cost-savings to the taxpayer by streamlining and reducing the number of civil servants.

We are being threatened with a successor to Blair who immediately caved in, when he sought to bring in line with the rest of us, the generous indexed pensions of civil servants, the moment these under-worked parasites flexed their muscles in unison.

Maxadolf, Epsom, UK

I wonder who'll have to pay for this then? It couldn't be the taxpayer by any chance?.............again. What an incompetent pile of twits this lot are.

judy, Liverpool, england

If the government tries to collect this money, it will be the final nail in the coffin of NHS dentistry.
It knows this, but as it has a cowardly agenda to 'privatise' UK dentistry by stealth, it will no doubt do it anyway, and bat aside any protests as being from 'the greedy dentists', whom it likes to pretend have a 'salary' (erm...no!) of £80K (the dentists wish!). Personally, I saw the writing on the wall with the totally unworkable 'New Contract' introduced without proper piloting in 4/06, and although I now make the same profits as I did in 2005 despite now being 95% private, as opposed to then when I was 95% NHS, my stress levels have dropped and for the first time for a decade I enjoy my profession. There is no chance whatsoever of experienced dentists like me coming back to the NHS - so well done NuLabour, that's another bit of the NHS 'hived off' successfully!

Dr Stephen Morris, Newcastle, UK

The "New" Nhs Dental contract really has been a farce from the date it was implemented. A system which doesn't pay dentists for preventative treatment, or reward patients for caring for their teeth (i.e. the nominal fee for one filling or several) is surely doomed to failure.

Many dentists were only able to see the new contract several days before it was due to commence, is it any wonder that there is confusion about it's terms !

Angry NHS Dentist, Liverpool, Merseyside

don't worry about a couple of 100million...
recoup it by fines on naughty householders who don't sort out the tins/bottles etc

mike, oxford, england

Why you cannot reveal similar modus operdani by this rotten corrupt Government to benefit the legal fraternity. Cox v Jones case clearly showed that the lawyers are not paying taxes and are even stealing VAT collected from their clients. I gave evidence to the relevant authoriries that a firm of solxcitors was keeping two sets of invoices to rob the Treasury but the Nazi did norhing.

Ashok Mahajan, London, Nazistan

Ah one more way for the treasury to tax the people. Why wont the government ever listen to us dentists before implementing or introducing dental contracts. Why change a known system which was working for both, the dentists and the patients. Patients today are more unhappy with the NHS dentistry, than they were before the new contract. A

the government is shooting by keeping the guns on the shoulder of the dentists.

Aweful.

a very concerned NHS Dentist, England, UK