Actually it's not quite as simple as that.
The cost of providing dentistry in the U.K. is far,far higher than in most countries . Eg cost of indemnity (malpractice insurance ) is a couple of hundred in many countries and will start from around £6000 a year going into five figures if you carry out implants, sinus lifts etc. A dentist is more likely to be sued in the U.K. than anywhere else in the world .
In many/most countries dental nurses, technicians , hygienists are not regulated , do not have to pay registration fees and carry out CPD each year to remain registered .
Dental practices in the U.K. are thirty times more regulated than in anywhere else in Europe . Everything from pressurised vessels , CQC inspections, water and waste regulations to data protection and more. All of which has a substantial cost . More than 50 different organisations have the right to inspect a dental practice .
It will cost a minimum of £140 an hour per room to run a practice in a cheap area doing mostly NHS dentistry .
The rate of dental inflation, ie what it costs to provide dentistry , is around 10% per year.
The problem is , as vets have discovered , people have no idea of the real cost of providing medical services . A NHS dentist gets nothing ,other than what they earn when someone is sitting in the chair to cover the costs of running a practice . In fact , in quite a few practices , what a patient pays is less than what the practice earns from a proceedure as their UDA value ( a measure of dental activity) is less than the patient contribution .