For many months dental stories in the press have been restricted to the NHS access crisis, with occasional analysis of the UDA contract, the arrival of dental deserts, and frequent references to DIY dentistry. At last, the popular press has found a new dental story.
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The full implications of the GDC v Williams case, which led to the recent Appeal Court decision on NHS patient charge top ups, remain uncertain.
At about the same time that David Bottomley was making headlines over a practices refusal to see him due to his weight, the giant global food and drink conglomerate Nestlé, also managed to get a dental story that is not about the NHS, into the papers and social media.
Dentistry has long been recognised as a ‘market leader’ when it comes to the mental health issues affecting those who deliver it.
While registrants have begun to think about the wider ramifications of the Court of Appeal top up decision, it has taken a little while for professional organisations and indemnifiers to comment.
At some point, many dentists will have fantasised about an alternative career. For most though, life as a professional musician, sportsperson, or author, will remain a dream and their days will continue to be dictated by an appointment book. One dentist’s choice of new career may be revealing of the state of UK dentistry in 2023.
Given the time they spend discussing dentistry, perhaps any MP’s losing their seats at the election could be fast tracked onto the register as experts by experience?
Read more: What’s Left To Say? Another Commons Debate on Dentistry
Despite being able to fit the original 10 Commandments onto a pair of stone tablets, the National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005, run to nearly 60 pages.
The recent 8.5% increase in NHS dental charges has attracted bitter criticism from the BDA, not least because none of the money raised will benefit providers or fund improvements to the service. Put simply, patients are being asked to pay more so that government can pay less.
Read more: Poll Confirms NHS Dental Charges Are Repelling Patient Attendance