The spectre of millions of desperate British people resorting to do-it-yourself fillings and extractions has reared its ugly little head again today, with the results of a new Which? survey into DIY dentistry featuring prominently on the BBC News and Telegraph websites this morning.
This time the results of a survey of 2631 adults have been extrapolated to give the shocking and not very statistically sound news that 3 million people have resorted to undertaking their own dental treatment. Whilst some reporting does point out that the motivation for their doing so is not revealed by the report, the implication of this ongoing narrative is clear. The state of dentistry and the attendant images of suffering grandmothers wielding pliers on mouthfuls of rotting teeth are often held up by critics as the starkest example of perceived failure of New Labour reforms of the health service as a whole.
Whilst there were undoubtedly challenges brought about by the introduction of wide-ranging reforms in April 2006, root and branch change of the dental health commissioning system was never going to be easy. It is clear that while access has greatly increased in some areas, there are those where it is still unacceptably difficult to get NHS dental treatment. However, nearly three years on, it is about time to move the story on. Ultimately, it is the vision of a fair, comprehensive and locally responsive dental service that meets the needs of all users that is at the heart of the reform project. What we have now is stable platform on which to achieve it. We are still moving toward the goal, with all ten NHS Strategic Health Authorities aiming to deliver full access by 2011 at the latest. At the end of last year an independent review was also announced to look into a number of factors, including how to improve allocation of funding and address some of the issues highlighted by the Health Select Committee in 2008.
With so much progress and investment being made to fix what was a broken system, it is a shame that this unhelpful and ghoulish story keeps reappearing. At best it is a distraction from the real work to be done and at its worst it is discouraging people from accessing the many excellent dental health services that are already out there and available to them.
I noticed today that the dental surgery that unceremoniously excluded me from it's list when I declined becoming a private patient four years ago is now advertising for HNS patients. Finding an NHS dentist has not been a probelme loaclly; I guess this surgery has now got that message.
Posted by: Keith Rawlingson | Thursday, February 12, 2009 at 06:14 PM
It is a serious problem in my area my young grandson has not seen a dentist in ten years and private surgery will not take him on until his teeth are seen and put right, he is ten now and had all his teeth removed in hospital. The problem now of course his second teeth are now affected. How sad that this has occurred under a Labour government, we can spent 100 million or billion on bloody missiles we cannot look after our kids.
Posted by: Robert | Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 09:59 PM
I think its better to have an resources about this,dental surgery is a serious matter.
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Posted by: dental implants los angeles | Monday, March 02, 2009 at 01:10 AM
If this is going to be for the improvement of your image, then it's best to take advantage of it. If it's already available to you, then why not go and give it a try? It could work out for you.
Posted by: Aurea Robillard | Wednesday, July 13, 2011 at 06:51 PM