NHS survey uncovers dental fraud

Some dental surgeries and other oral health providers in the U.K. could be exaggerating patient figures and denture treatment information in order to get paid more than they should, according to a survey by NHS Protect, the antifraud arm of the National Health Service.

NHS Protect reviewed 5,000 bills and found that 3% of claims for work were fraudulent, totaling about 73 million pounds ($113 million) in payments. As many as 1 million claims each year could be false, the NHS Protect team said.

In the majority of the fraudulent claims, which include dentures and false teeth work, dentists had charged for more expensive dental work than had actually been carried out. A quarter of the false claims were made for work that was never done, and 10% of fraudulent claims involved patients who did not exist, NHS Protect found.

Following the release of the report, the Department of Health announced that the NHS is taking action against all of the dentists found to be making fraudulent claims.