CMA targets private dentistry in new review

The Competition and Market Authority (CMA) is turning its attention to private dentistry. In a recent speech at the Competition Policy Conference on 20 November 2025 at Chatham House, CMA Chief Executive Sarah Cardell said the organisation is “relentlessly focused on bringing down prices and improving choice.”

This decision to focus on private dentistry follows a letter from the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Rachel Reeves MP, dated 18 November 2025, asking the CMA to consider launching a study of the private dental market.

Her letter states there’s a need to consider “the effectiveness of competition between private dentistry providers, including at a local level, and the ability of consumers to make effective choices and obtain good value for money”.

The CMA welcomed this request from the government and, in its response to the Chancellor, agreed that “this is an important market that needs to work well for consumers.” It confirmed that it “has been carrying out initial exploratory work, including engagement with government officials, to understand the merits of work in this area. Building on this, we will be developing a specific proposal to put to our Board, and we will write to you again with an update on the outcome of that discussion.”

While the full impact of this review on the private dental sector is currently unclear, the CMA’s recent proposals for the veterinary market may offer clues. As outlined in our article, the CMA has proposed measures to increase pricing transparency, including:

• Written estimates of cost and itemised bills for customers
• Written prescriptions for ongoing needs, enabling customers to buy medications online
• A maximum price for the provision of written prescriptions
• Making it mandatory for practices to provide customers with prices for a standard list of services.

Although the private dental sector differs significantly from the veterinary space, the sector is currently managing the rising costs of delivering care and the legacy of underinvestment in NHS dentistry and the associated backlog.

Unsurprisingly, the proposed review has sparked strong reactions from dental bodies. In particular, the British Dental Association’s Chair Eddie Crouch described the call for an investigation as “utterly perverse”.

He continued: “The Chancellor is singling out private dentists for doing what any business does: covering their costs, some of which are of the Chancellor’s own making. At the same time, she’s very happy to starve NHS services of vital funding. We’d remind her that profits from private care are all that are keeping NHS dentistry afloat.”