Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of allowing dental therapists to carry out some minor dental procedures.

From August to September 2023, we consulted on changes to the Human Medicines Regulations, which will enable dental therapists and dental hygienists to supply and administer some medicines without the need for a prescription from a dentist, allowing therapists and hygienists to work to their full scope of practice. We will respond shortly to the consultation on the proposals. Furthermore, NHS England’s January 2023 guidance clarified that dental therapists and dental hygienists can open and close National Health Service courses of treatment and provide direct access to NHS care, where that care is within the General Dental Council scope of practice, provided that they are qualified, competent, and indemnified to do so.