Dental personnel planning and the single market: problems ahead?

Recently Whitehouse expressed concern about the possible implications of the legislation regarding the freedom of movement of labour within the European Community upon dental policy. Particular reference was made to the possibility of a major inflow of dental personnel to the United Kingdom. This paper looks at the evidence on which such worries appear to be based and examines the possibilities that this could have for planning dental personnel requirements in the UK. Dental personnel are defined in this paper as dental practitioners.