The U.K. National Health Service (NHS) has announced $44.4 million (28 million pounds) in funding to expand its dental service network.
The funding will be given to Primary Care Trusts, which bid for the cash to spend on expanding local services in ways that best meet their patients' needs. This will include things such as increasing the number of appointments with NHS dentists and providing care in people's homes for those who can't travel to see an NHS dentist.
The extra funding is part of the government's drive to improve oral health and increase access to NHS dentists. A key part of this is the government's commitment to replace the current dentist contract with one that supports dentists to improve oral health and increase access to services.
Since May 2010, the NHS has enabled 1 million more people to access dental services, according to a press release.
