BDA highlights support for campaign against dental trainee salary cuts

The British Dental Association (BDA) has called on dental professionals to support its campaign against proposals to reduce the salary paid to dental foundation trainees (DFTs).

A petition established in conjunction with the campaign has already attracted more than 5,000 signatures, while dental students are also being encouraged to get in touch with their local MPs to make their concerns known.

The BDA has warned that the government plans to reduce DFT salaries by more than 2,000 pounds will mean young dentists will qualify with increasingly large debts, creating even greater professional challenges than currently exist.

As such, the organisation is calling for the plans to be scrapped, lest it be viewed as an attack on the dental profession as a whole.

BDA student committee chair Paul Blaylock said: "It is important that we send a very clear signal that we will not stand for this cut. I encourage everyone in the profession to add their names to the petition."

This comes after the new BDA chairman Dr Mick Armstrong suggested the sector is currently being impacted by inadequate funding, regulatory shortcomings and indecisive political leadership.