Not since the birth of the National Health Service (NHS) has dentistry received so much attention from politicians. The NHS is mentioned in manifestos and discussed on the doorstep. A recent Comment by Richard G Watt and colleagues1 criticised the English Government's recovery plan as out of scale with the velocity and extent to which the system is failing. The Comment called for “bold and ambitious” reform,1 including replacing the NHS dental contract and increasing funding (estimating that ...