Portsmouth dentistry: 'Landmark' moment for University of Portsmouth as 25 new dental training places awarded
Portsmouth to train dentists for first time after being “left behind”
Having long been described as a “dental desert”, Portsmouth has been boosted by 25 dental training places being awarded to the university making it the first dental school in the South East.
The new places are part of the first sustained expansion of dental school places in nearly 20 years with Portsmouth selected as a region that has been “left behind”. The health minister Stephen Kinnock visited the University of Portsmouth to announce the news on Tuesday, June 2 with the new students being taken on in 2027.
It is part of the governments drive to train more home-grown dentists and boost the workforce in regions where there are currently too few.
The health minister said: “No one in the 21st century should struggle to access basic dental care or, even worse, forced to take matters into their own hands.
“By bringing dental school places to the University of Portsmouth for the first time, trainee dentists will put down roots in parts of the country that have for too long been left behind.
“These new places will help train NHS-ready dentists in the communities that need them most, meaning patients can get the care they need faster and closer to home."
The Office for Students (OfS), who are in charge of handing out the places, had 50 new places to allocate with the University of Portsmouth now the confirmed recipient of 25 of them from each year beginning in September 2027.
The new dental school is expected to be a boost to the local community where NHS dentists are hard to come by. Evidence suggests that students tend to practice near where they trained, with the university also advising it would be aiming to take on local students.
Vice-Chancellor of the University of Portsmouth, Professor Graham Galbraith CBE, said: “Securing these places is a landmark moment for the University of Portsmouth and the communities we serve. The South-East has needed its own dental school for decades, and today that ambition becomes a reality.
“We are ready to train the next generation of dental professionals right here in Portsmouth- professionals who will stay in the region and help end the dental desert.”
Professor Chris Louca, Director of Dentistry at the University of Portsmouth said: “Our ambition is to recruit local students knowing that local students on graduation are far more likely to stay in the area and far more likely to work for the NHS and build the local NHS dental workforce.”
The other 25 trainee dentist places were awarded to the University of East Anglia meaning that all NHS England regions now have a dental school.
As well as an increase in the allocation of home students, the government has announced that a total of 2,400 more overseas-trained dentists, many of whom are already living in this country and waiting for the opportunity to help, could be registered annually from 2028/29.
On his visit to the University of Portsmouth, the Labour MP for Aberafan Maesteg, told The News that the allocation of the dental places is a “big step” in the right direction as the government looks to make NHS dentistry “more attractive to work in” as part of wider plans for reform.