I served on our Local Dental Committee for around 25 years, and I still believe LDCs have an important role to play.
In my view, an LDC could be one of the few organisations capable of helping to unify the dental profession locally and nationally. However, its influence can be limited when funding is drawn mainly from NHS contributions, as this can make it feel less relevant to those working outside the NHS.
That is a missed opportunity.
Dentistry needs a stronger, more united professional voice. Rather than simply responding to changes imposed from above, LDCs could help all the profession shape the future of dental care — for patients, dental teams, and the wider public.
If you care about the future of dentistry, why not get involved?
This was the message I shared about 50 LDC secretaries.
Can the LDC help young dentists start a business?
Imagine if government funding could no longer sustain dentistry through a large, centralised system.
Would we wait for that system to fail, or begin planning a better alternative?
None of us has the perfect answer, and we may not all agree on the route forward. But many experienced dentists have already built practices, managed teams, served communities, and learned valuable lessons along the way.
That experience should not be lost. I am guilty of selling to a corporate, and think in a few years time they will be just a couple of large corporates delivering their business exploiting health rather than delivering a fair service. It has happened with Vets.
We can develop a business model delivering to provide a free pathway for developing general practice based on prevention, minimal intervention dentistry, and team-led support.
This could begin simply — the equivalent of a Minimum Viable Product — perhaps with a mobile dental nurse service offering prevention, monitoring, oral health advice, and onward referral where needed.
Then build on the service for hygienists, therapists, then dentists, dental practices, and small group practices, and health hubs.
This is a DHS short video outlines the problems, and potential solutions through sharing, collaborating, and using AI.
I made the graphic above about 10 years ago, but the problem behind it still remains.
At the time, I wanted to help create a website for Avon LDC. My idea was simple: build a national resource that could be updated centrally, with local LDC sections that were easy to maintain.
When I looked around, some LDCs already had the type of format I had in mind. But when I asked whether we could copy or adapt their approach, they declined, saying they had spent a lot of money developing it.
That, for me, highlighted part of the wider problem in dentistry.
If we want a better future for dentists and the public, we need to share knowledge, expertise, templates, and resources more openly. We need to pay it forward for the next generation, rather than simply protect what we have built for ourselves.
A Dental Health Service could help create that shared platform.
You can see the idea on the home page at denflix.co.uk.
