Back To The Real World, Another Day For Dentistry in the UK

Back To The Real World, Another Day For Dentistry in the UK

After all the hoopla and publicity surrounding the Health and Social Care Committee enquiry into NHS dentistry, the ministers and public health experts have now returned to their offices and non-executive directorships. 

While the profession and public wait to see what, if any, effect the Committee’s deliberations have, the dental workforce meanwhile carries on doing it’s best. As the public continue to try and navigate their way around the dental deserts, or if they are lucky, dental barren ground, as Paul Bloomfield MP described the available options, GDPUK takes a look at what was happening in the dental “real world” that day.

Whether you agree that ‘Google is your friend,’ or not, their alerts service is a helpful way of finding out what stories are being covered in the press and other media. Based on the chosen keywords it finds a selection of stories. Unsurprisingly, ‘Dentist’, works well. With such a wide range, many stories can relate to news of the global impression materials market, reports of studies that turn out to be speculative or of very small scale, as well as the recurring sad tales of dentists around the world who have got into trouble with the law. On the page of news about dentistry, the last day the Committee took oral evidence, April 25th, Google alerts provided 11 links. One was itself about the committee. Of the remaining ten, nine painted a clear picture of dentistry outside the Commons Committee rooms.

The first story made the national late evening news and was about Danielle Watts. For those who missed it, Danielle was suffering from advanced periodontal disease and had herself removed many of her very mobile teeth. She could not get NHS treatment though, and became embarrassed and isolated. Her salvation eventually came after friends crowdfunded to raise money for private treatment. Watching her now, those who have contributed will know that they have made a huge difference to Danielle.

Three links led to the 8.5% increase in NHS dental charges and looked at how this would cause up to 25% of patients to delay or avoid seeking treatment. One, was entitled “Another nail in the coffin” quoting Durham MP Mary Kelly Foy’s opinion of the patient charge increases. A poll asking about funding was referred to which had an optimistic 38 per cent of those responding saying that dentistry should be fully funded by the Government through general taxation.

Another BBC link was to the crisis in care homes where there appears to be a complete failure of provision for vulnerable residents. Bearing out some of the CQC’s findings a care home manager said that it was “impossible” for her residents to access any NHS dental care.

Further links led to two local papers in Redditch and Bromsgrove, and included claims that the area had joined the anything but exclusive club of dental deserts, with nearly 2000 patients per dentist.

Meanwhile The Lincolnite carried reactions to the effects of BUPA closing one practice in the county and seeking to sell two more. Those keeping a list of dental crisis tags could tick off: dental wasteland, DIY dentistry, and distraught pensioners pointing out that they had paid “all their lives” for a service that was now being taken away from them, the short feature fitting in all of these familiar references to modern NHS dentistry.

It would take a very confident pair of individuals, to tell all of those affected that, progress was being made and that at some point in the future it was hoped to open a ten surgery “waterfront” purely NHS practice in Ipswich. It might be safest done from the distance of a Westminster Committee room.

Image Credit BBC

NHS dentistry crisis: Crowdfunding my new teeth has changed my life - BBC News

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