Politicians, press and the public will always look for a villain – Rasnaam Tiwana asks if the CMA inquiry into the cost of private dentistry will see the sector scapegoated.
When prices rise, the instinctive reaction is to go looking for villains, asking: ‘If patients are paying more, who is making the money?’
It is hardly surprising that the chancellor has asked the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to examine private dental pricing, and that the media were quick to turn it into a ‘dentists are ripping off patients’ story. What many overlooked was that reviewing prices to patients tells you very little about why prices are rising.
Dentistry has not become more expensive because dentists and owners suddenly developed a taste for excess profit and juicier EBITDA. It has become more expensive because the economic system around it has changed, and it’s government policy that has quietly shaped that change.
