No one, including governments over the decades , is interested in what the people actually working in dentistry think. There is a select committee hearing at the moment and the majority of views are either non dentists (registrar of GDC ) or never worked in high street dentistry.
Dentists know there is no more money available and the annual spend per year per patient treated, including patient charge is around £36.
Dentists solution is , overwhelmingly , a core service. Ie a service to get rid of pain. Check up, x rays, extractions , simple fillings, perhaps root treatment on front teeth, simple plastic dentures. Over 50% of the budget for children's dental health is spent on braces , this seems wrong when kids in pain are waiting years for a general anaesthetic to take teeth out , or when many will never see a dentist. So raise the bar again for orthodontic treatment to only the most severe cases.
Everything else private.
The problem is no government is brave enough to say we cannot afford world class comprehensive NHS dentistry. So they cut and cut and cut the money.
As in so much of healthcare we need to take brown up decisions as to what we can and cant afford. Dentists say spend the money on making sure everyone can see someone and afford treatment that will get them out of pain.