Liberal Democrats debate dentistry

10.30.00am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 17th Sep 2007

At the Liberal Democrat conference this morning the party debated the issue of dentistry. Conference noted that NHS dentistry is now in crisis, with less than half of British adults registered with an NHS despite Labour's promise that everyone would have access to an NHS dentist by 2001.

Conference called for the scrapping the charge for dental check-ups and any future changes to the dental system to be made in conjunction with professionals and patient groups, ending the acrimony that results from having many dentists working within the NHS 'under dispute'. Conference also called for the establishment of a commission to examine how effective the current dental system is at delivering high quality dental care for the most vulnerable groups, and to come up with proposals to secure high quality dental care for all.