We have warned ministers that without real effort to reverse an exponential decline in the clinical academic workforce, promises to boost dentist numbers and ease the NHS access crisis cannot be met.
Earlier this month the Government announced the first sustained increase in UK-trained dentist numbers in a generation, a total of fifty extra students per year, expected to be delivered at new schools in the South and East from 2027.
It's quite simple: you can't have more dental students without the teachers.
— BDA (@TheBDA) March 30, 2026
Without action here, the Government’s promise to expand dental undergraduate numbers simply cannot be kept.
Our open letter to @educationgovuk & @DHSCgovuk
👇https://t.co/2cMRtycRvx pic.twitter.com/TkN8VAhmD1
In our open letter about the academic workforce to the Department for Education and the Department of Health and Social Care we have spelled out the facts.
Even this very modest increase in student numbers will be impossible to deliver without comprehensive action to support an undervalued and ageing workforce.
The Government has yet to reveal the true scale of its ambitions in the NHS workforce plan. Whatever shape it takes, we will spell out the facts. We cannot have more students without more teachers. We need a genuinely sustainable academic workforce.