In a Dentist Shortage, British (Ouch) Do It Themselves

The New York Times ^ | May 7, 2006 | Unsigned

[aculeus]

ROCHDALE, England, May 2 — "I snapped it out myself," said William Kelly, 43, describing his most recent dental procedure, the autoextraction of one of his upper teeth.

Now it is a jagged black stump, and the pain gnawing at Mr. Kelly's mouth has transferred itself to a different tooth, mottled and rickety, on the other side of his mouth. "I'm in the middle of pulling that one out, too," he said.

It is easy to be mean about British teeth. Mike Myers's mouth is a joke in itself in the "Austin Powers" movies. In a "Simpsons" episode, dentalphobic children are shown "The Big Book of British Smiles," cautionary photographs of hideously snaggletoothed Britons. In Mexico, protruding, discolored and generally unfortunate teeth are known as "dientes de ingles."

But the problem is serious. Mr. Kelly's predicament is not just a result of cigarettes and possibly indifferent oral hygiene; he is careful to brush once a day, he said. Instead, it is due in large part to the deficiencies in Britain's state-financed dental service, which, stretched beyond its limit, no longer serves everyone and no longer even pretends to try.

Mr. Kelly, interviewed in a health clinic here as he waited for his son to see a doctor, last visited a dentist six years ago, in Sussex.

Since moving to Rochdale, a working-class suburb of Manchester, he has been unable to find a National Health Service dentist willing to take him on.

Every time he has tried to sign up, lining up with hundreds of others from the ranks of the desperate and the hurting — "I've seen people with bleeding gums where they've ripped their teeth out," he said grimly — he has arrived too late and missed the cutoff.

[aculeus]

William Kelly, 43, extracted part of his own tooth, leaving a black stump. He plans to pull one more.

[aculeus]

Coming soon to the USA, compliments of the Democrat Party.

[cripplecreek]

I don't like dentists either. I take care of my teeth.

[MinuteGal]

Kelly should beg, borrow or steal some money to fly to the States to get his dental work done.

But he better hurry before we get nationalized dental Hillary-care or he'll suffer the same fate here.

Leni

[TADSLOS]

Groovy, Baby...YEAH!!

[6SJ7]

Kelly should beg, borrow or steal some money to fly to the States to get his dental work done.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were criminal penalties for contracting private medial/dental care. The State can't have its clients wandering off the reservation; wouldn't be 'fair'.

[sgtbono2002]

America's orthodontists can get more money for 50 cents worth of wire than oil companies get for 2,000 gallons of gas LOL.

[REPANDPROUDOFIT]

I didn't know they had dentists in England. LOL!

[DAC22]

If that guy is only 43, he has a lot more issues than just teeth, dude doesn't look a day under 60

[JohnLongIsland]

please forward ping to http://clinton.senate.gov/contact/

[C210N]

This is old hat...

Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) showed how to do it in one of his early 1/2-hour shows. Very easy, and he extracted ALL his teeth, upper, lower, left and right.

[mtbopfuyn]

I hate to say it, but American kids' teeth are getting bad too. It's amazing how many students at school don't brush their teeth - all nasty yellow and full of gunk and plaque.

[ahayes]

he is careful to brush once a day, he said.

Well that's just about useless. If you're going to go without a dentist you need to brush at least twice a day and more importantly floss! A fluoride rinse isn't a bad idea either.

Yuck, I can't imagine brushing my teeth only once a day.

[Farmer Dean]

He kind of reminds me of the old German vampire movie Nosferatu.

[Tribune7]

ping

[ran15]

That is exactly it.. in England dentists are part of the government health system. The English people's renowned poor teeth is a visible reminder of what happens to society as it is 'socialized'.

[reg45]

When I saw the headline, I immediately thought of that episode.

[vetvetdoug]

There's a shortage of dentists in Merry Ole' England? I would have never suspected that. Who woulda' thunk it?

[halfright]

I remember vividly,I was 12 and it was a Sunday morning, sitting on the back of the toilet holding Dads bottle of JD as he took an exacto knife, burned and cleaned the tip, and cut carefully around an impacted wisdom tooth.........blood every where.....pausing every few seconds for another pull of JD.....finally finished cutting, put down the exacto knife and put his forefinger on the tooth, he hit the back of his hand against the tooth and out it popped. He chomped down on a wad of gauze and passed out in the chair in the living room.

bathroom splattered in blood...looked like a crime scene....

Next week he got into dentists and doc said he did a fine job..

[exhaustguy]

Many British citizens are taking extended medical holidays to India to have surgery they can't get performed in the U.K. Also, Indian doctors are flying into the U.K. and performing surgeries in rented operating rooms after hours. Not sure how they get past the U.K. laws, but I learned about it in my globalization classs.

http://www.traveliteindia.com/medical.asp

Just check out these prices for dental work (1/10th the price).

Dental procedure Cost in US ($) Cost in India ($)
General Dentist Top End Dentist Top End Dentist
Smile designing - 8,000 1,000
Metal Free Bridge - 5,500 500
Dental Implants - 3,500 800
Porcelain Metal Bridge 1,800 3,000 300
Porcelain Metal Crown 600 1,000 80
Tooth impactions 500 2,000 100
Root canal Treatment 600 1,000 100
Tooth whitening 350 800 110
Tooth colored composite fillings 200 500 25
Tooth cleaning 100 300 75