Town Marks One Full Year Without NHS Dentistry

The plight of a town with around 6,000 inhabitants which has been deprived of NHS dental services for twelve months was highlighted on Friday.

The plight of a town with around 6,000 inhabitants which has been deprived of NHS dental services for twelve months was highlighted on Friday.
A snapshot of UK dentistry shows an example of the profession at its best, as well as more familiar difficulties.
In a ‘you couldn’t make it up’ story, NHS spokespeople pulled out, at the last minute, from attending a specially convened meeting of Derby City Council’s Adult and Health Scrutiny Review Board which had been convened to discuss city councillor’s grave concerns surrounding access to NHS dental services.
Read more: NHS FTAs Derby City Council’s Meeting To Discuss Dentistry
The announcement earlier this year of £50M to fund thousands upon thousands of urgent dental care appointments provided ministers and apologists with a perfect retort to fend off MPs and the public’s legitimate concerns about access to NHS dental services. How many patients it actually helped is rather more obscure.
An article written by a respected dentist and academic has received widespread social media plaudits for the way it encapsulates the feelings of many UK practitioners regarding dental litigation and the General Dental Council.
Read more: The GDC and NHS UDAs Crushed Compassion – The Brutal Truth
There is no respite in the bad news stories about NHS access but a clear pattern has now emerged. There is a sad predictability to both the stories of the dentally disenfranchised, and the responses from those nominally responsible for providing their care.
Read more: Welcome to the New Normal - the NHS access crisis