Only 37 percent of Dutch children between the ages of 2 and 4 years ever visit the dentist according to figures from heath insurer Zilveren Kruis. Other insurers confirmed the figures that show kids in Holland under the age of five hardly ever go to the dentist.
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Dr Mervyn Druian has been announced as honorary international president of the Alpha Omega Dental Society for 2017. He becomes only the second European member to receive this accolade in the society’s 110-year history. He said. ‘I believe we, as dentists, belong to one of the luckiest professions,’
Scientists say that they have found a way to stimulate the stem cells in teeth using a drug containing a GSK-3 inhibitor so that dentine, which is found underneath tooth enamel, regrows. This research has been highlighted in the media as the ‘end of fillings’ and lead author Prof Paul Sharpe is confident that it could get ‘quickly into clincs’.
The British Dental Association (BDA) has responded to figures from the Local Government Association (LGA) revealing 160 children and teenagers are undergoing tooth extractions under general anaesthesia in hospitals in England every day. BDA chair Mick Armstrong said: “The millions spent on child tooth extractions in hospitals are emblematic of the government's disinterest in oral health.”
Read more: BDA: Government failure is driving child tooth extraction epidemic
HMRCs new Making Tax Digital (MTD) scheme will present ‘a severe headache’ for the majority of dentists and be yet another cost that they will have to cover. That’s according to NASDAL. Alan Suggett, media officer of NASDAL said: “The aims of the scheme appear to be laudable in terms of simplifying and making the tax system more efficient. However, the dental sector will face specific challenges.”
Read more: Making Tax Digital will be ‘severe headache’ for dentists
The Chairs of three House of Commons Select Committees are urging the Prime Minister to reach a cross-party agreement on the future of health and social care funding in a published letter. The letter has been sent by Sarah Wollaston MP, Chair of the Health Committee, and the chairs of the Public Accounts Committee, and the Communities and Local Government Committee.
Read more: Prime Minister must find consensus on health and social care
The chair of the BDA’s General Dental Practice Committee, Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen, was interviewed live on the Radio 4 consumer programme You & Yours which focused on delays in dentists receiving performer list numbers from Capita. He criticised government for outsourcing services to the cheapest provider.
More than 100,000 casualty visits a year are caused by toothache, reports The Times It is costing the NHS millions and clogging up Accident and Emergency departments. Justin Durham, the consultant oral surgeon at Newcastle University who lead the research, said: “It’s quite surprising how many patients we are seeing. They will be in pain and a lot of it.”
In a number of announcements before the recess the Government has confirmed that the standard of Capita’s work under its (primary care) contract has not been acceptable, on the costs of child extractions in hospital and a new health minister in the House of Lords.