Posted on 01/17/2008 10:03:19 AM PST by bamahead
More than seven million patients have been unable to see an NHS dentist for almost two years.
Most of those denied access have paid for private care instead, says Citizens Advice.
But almost three million have gone without treatment altogether, claims the charity.
The figure includes thousands of children and is much higher than Government estimates.
The charity is calling today for Primary Care Trusts, the bodies responsible for dentistry in England and Wales, to step up funding to improve care for NHS patients.
It cited the case of a low-income pensioner given emergency dental treatment in a hospital in North Yorkshire then told to get further treatment from one of two local NHS dentists - both of whom have 12-month waiting lists.
The charity's survey of 1,800 people, carried out by Ipsos MORI, found that lack of access was the most common reason for not seeing an NHS dentist, along with not needing treatment.
It was mentioned by one in three of those who had not seen an NHS dentist since April 2006.
Citizens Advice said the findings suggested 7.4million people had tried and failed to see an NHS dentist, with around 4.7million seeking private care instead and 2.7 million going without treatment altogether.
The worst problem areas were the South West and the North West.
Citizens Advice chief executive David Harker said: "These figures show the scale of the lack of access to NHS dentistry.
"People on low incomes are particularly affected as private treatment is just not an option."
A recent report by the Information Centre for Health and Social Care found one in three children are not seeing an NHS dentist.
LOL! I thought they paid good money for smiles like that!
Having seen a lot more snaggle toothed cashiers lately, I’m not sure dental care is as good in the USA as it used to be.
Just a foretaste of what the idiot Democrats have planned for us with their wonderful healthcare ideas.
How ironic — private charity to the rescue of failed Government.
Well...as an American capitalist, it seems like there is fertile ground for an upswing of folks in British dental schools. Does the NHS limit the number of folks who can attend dental school? Does the NHS pay dentists too little so there is no incentive to go to dental school?
Don’t know enough about the system to understand why a simple solution, like more dental students and graduating more dentists, won’t solve this problem in the next 2-3 years....
A nation of Dopes? This article is specious - a ploy for socialized medicine.....don't fall for it. Having insurance is not yet law - only the propaganda is and the misinformed.
Not only that, but dental insurance is backwards from what insurance should be. Mine pays 100% of cleaning, 80% - a deductible for fillings and nothing on major work like braces or dentures. That would be like car insurance paying in full for oil changes, partially for wreck damage and nothing if your car is totaled and has to be replaced.
English Teeth, Happy Teeth!
Always having fun
Champing down on bits of fish
And sausages half done.
English Teeth, HEROES' Teeth!
Here them click! and clack!
Let's sing a song of praise to them -
Three Cheers for the Brown Grey and Black.
-- Spike Milligan
>>This article is specious - a ploy for socialized medicine <<
It’s also an excerpt, and I forogot to check the box indicating so. (oops) But I think it makes a case against socialized medicine more than it does for.
Britian’s problem is that they keep looking for ways to fix their system rather than ways to scrap it all together and return to a totally free market system.
I love it! :)
Single payer health plan. Cut the supply and you cut the cost.
My Father in-Law is a Dentist and he almost always has holes in his schedule 3 or 4 days out. He finds most people want the prime hours of the day so it does not impact the rest of their schedule, so there are some hours of the day that are harder to fill. Then you have ones that cancel at the last minute, too late to fill the hour with some one else. Many in his field resort to offering free teeth cleanings or other perks just to get people in.
He has said a 2-day schedule he will have to let staff go, a two week schedule is healthy, 2 months filled and he is he’s going to loose patients to other Doctors.
12-months???? now that is broke.
1) quit waiting
2) stop paying your insurance bills and save that money to
3) pay for your own dental work
ROFLMAO! I’d love to hear it sung!
Spike Milligan, God rest his soul, died recently. I’m not sure anybody else can do it justice . . . .
They have dentists in the UK????? ;^)
It's due to the restrictions on their income. A socialized system like NHS limits the income of a dentist to an arbitrary amount, since it is paid by the government.
If, for the sake of argument, their income is limited to $45,000 a year, there would naturally be very little interest from most people to become dentists for the NHS.
HillaryCare will not repeat the mistakes the Brits (and every other Socialist regime) made in implementing free health care for everybody. After all, health is to important for anyone to be required to pay for it. And since it is free, we might as well get all we can while the getting is good.
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