PLANS to relax rules to prop up the NHS with foreign dentists are “dangerous” and will put patients at significant risk of harm, leading medics warn.
The Royal College of Surgeons has hit out at ministers’ proposal to loosen restrictions on hiring dentists trained abroad.
Under the plan, dentists who qualified in other countries will no longer have to take the current UK-specific exams before they can start working here.
They will be allowed to practise on a provisional registration before getting fully certified.
Health chiefs want to attract more dentists to bring England’s service back from the brink of collapse.
Dr Charlotte Eckhardt, dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal College of Surgeons, said: “This proposal puts UK patients at significant risk.
“It would give the General Dental Council powers to provisionally register dentists who have qualified overseas without passing examinations to prove their competency.
“We recognise that the UK is currently facing a substantial shortage of dentists and patients are struggling to get appointments but the Government’s quick-fix solution to this problem is short-sighted and dangerous.”
The college said: “Many overseas qualified dentists may be accustomed to different standards from the UK.”
It told a government consultation that UK exams are “crucial safeguards” against patients suffering serious harm or accidents in the dentist’s chair.
Current pass rates for one of the two exams, the licence in dental surgery, are low with around one in three dentists failing to meet UK standards.
Exams also include English language tests, which could be sidestepped by newcomers.
An estimated 2,000 dentists could come to work here if the rule is relaxed, potentially including hundreds who are not good enough.
The college added that the dentists themselves could be exploited by bosses if their right to stay in the UK is based on a temporary registration.
Experts say traditional NHS dentistry is “all but finished” as eight in 10 practices last year stopped taking new patients.
Just 41 per cent of adults have seen a dentist in the last two years and half of children have not had a check-up for more than a year.
Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association, said: “Any risk will hinge on whether a new model will be as rigorous with overseas dentists as it is with UK colleagues.
“Cutting corners will serve no one.
“Ministers keep reaching for silver bullets but this route is unlikely to be quick or cost effective.”
A Government source said the General Dental Council would still have powers to refuse provisional registration to dentists who do not cut the mustard.
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “Strengthening the workforce is key to our ambitions and our proposals would abolish red tape that currently prevents overseas-qualified dentists from working in this country.
“Our new approach would allow them to work safely under the supervision of a registered dentist whilst they themselves seek full registration, allowing us to increase workforce capacity while maintaining high standards of care and patient safety.
“There will be no change to the standards required for any individual to be able to join the full dentists register and practise independently as a dentist.”