More NHS dentists could be forced to close after major cyber attack leaves some nearing financial ruin

Many NHS dentists in the UK are on the brink of closure following a major cyberattack. The ransomware attack in August wiped out Adastra, a system used by most NHS 111 services, GPs and dental providers, affecting around 40 million patients. While most sites have recovered, the month-long outage has financially jeopardized some dental practices, who are paid per patient treated, not per operation running. Increased pressure from this comes as NHS dentistry already faces a crisis, with many closures and growing dental ‘deserts’.