Sufferers pull out teeth due to lack of dentists
By Matthew Moore and agencies Last Updated: 10:04AM BST 19 Apr 2008
Almost half of the dentists questioned said that their surgery was no longer taking NHS patients
People with toothache are resorting to pulling their own teeth because they cannot find a NHS dentist, a study out today says.
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The research, involving more than 5,000 patients in England, also found that as many as six per cent had treated themselves because they could not find a dentist.
Some said they took out their own teeth or fixed broken crowns with glue. One person in Lancashire had carried out 14 separate extractions with pliers.
A researcher at a shopping centre in Liverpool met three separate people in one morning who had pulled out teeth themselves.
Almost three fifths (58 per cent) of dentists said new contracts brought in last year had made the quality of care worse and 84 per cent thought the changes had failed to make it easier for patients to get an appointment.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1566241/Sufferers-pull-out-teeth-due-to-lack-of-dentists.html