The maximum price for a course of NHS dental treatment is to be cut by more than half to £183 under reforms announced yesterday by Rosie Winterton, the health minister.
She said patients would no longer be recommended to go for a simple check-up every six months. At present this costs about £6 a visit, with extra charges for scaling and polishing or x-rays.
Those with healthy teeth would be advised to attend once every 18 months or two years, paying £15 for a complete package of preventive dental work.
Patients needing simple fillings or extractions would pay £41 for the total course, including the initial check-up. Those needing complex treatment, such as bridgework, crowns or dentures, would pay the maximum £183, with no added extras.
Ms Winterton said the three payment bands would replace the current complex system of 400 separate charges for individual items of treatment.
Dentists would be obliged to provide a receipt showing the total cost of NHS treatment, making it clear to patients if they were being charged for additional private work.
She said: "Many people complain that they don't understand their bills, and are confused over what is NHS and what is private treatment.
"The new charging system will enable dentists to give a simple answer to patients' questions: what is my NHS treatment going to cost and what treatment will I get for the money?
"The new system is fairer for patients. Those with low treatment needs will attend less often, and patients with high treatment needs should find their NHS dental treatment cheaper."
The proposals followed a review of dental health led by Harry Cayton, the health department's "patient tsar". He said the charges would be "simple, transparent, efficient, affordable and fair".
People with good teeth would pay slightly more for visiting the dentist to bring down the cost for those with poorer oral hygiene. But, if they followed the latest guidance from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, they would visit less often. So everybody would pay less, he said.
The scheme is part of an attempt to revive NHS dentistry after it began to disintegrate in the early 1990s when many dentists switched largely to private work.
Tony Blair promised in 1999 to ensure that everyone had access to an NHS dentist, but this guarantee does not yet extend beyond emergency dental care. In many parts of the country it became impossible to sign on as an NHS patient. Long queues formed when vacancies for NHS patients were advertised.
Ms Winterton said the government was on course to recruit 1,000 extra NHS dentists by October. They would include 117 brought in from Poland. The NHS dental budget increased by £269m this year, she added.
The British Dental Association reserved judgment on the plans, pending the disclosure of a new contract to provide better rewards for NHS dentists' preventive work and less incentive for the "drill and fill" approach.
Lester Ellman, chairman of the 18,000-strong association, said: "The proposals are the beginning of the most radical shakeup in NHS dentistry for over 50 years. There is now a real opportunity for the government to work constructively with the profession to move to a modern, preventive approach to NHS dentistry.
"After a period of huge uncertainty and unhappiness about the direction of NHS dentistry from both patients and dentists, the government has at last begun to set out its plans for the future ... There will be no second chance to get this right."
Patricia Hewitt, the health secretary, received letters this week from 6,000 dentists complaining about delays in publishing the contract.
