Midlands: Dentistry in distress

Geoff Maskell
Politics Show Midlands

Your comments on Politics Show Midlands

Yasmin Davis was brought up to care for her teeth. Until recently she enjoyed regular check ups.

Yasmin used to enjoy regular dental check ups

Because of a shortage of dentists, they are now being seen once a year, instead of every six months.

It is worse for their mother Sue. Her dentist of 20 years now only treats private patients.

She can't find another dentist offering treatment on the NHS, and she can't pay for private care. Sue Davis said;

As a single mum with four kids I really cannot afford that kind of money.

It is £140 a year and its an ongoing thing and I just could not afford it, and I feel really annoyed that because I cannot afford dental treatment, I am being told I can't have any at all.

It is an increasing problem with more and more dentists giving up on doing NHS work and going private.

The problem is particularly acute in rural areas like Shropshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire, where they just cannot attract young graduates into NHS dentistry.

In the entire county of Shropshire there is not one dental practice currently opening its doors to new NHS patients!

Opened up waiting list and got 700 people in three days!

At one of the three exclusively NHS practices in Oswestry, Dr Anthony Griffiths would love to treat more patients, but does not have the resources. He said;

When we opened our waiting list up earlier this year we got 700 people in three days ... we are trying to work our way through ... but it is taking a long time.

Why do dentists leave the NHS?

Well money for a start, on the NHS a dentist earns around £50,000 a year ... Go private and they can earn three times that amount.

NHS dentists only get paid for the work they do, like fillings or removing a tooth and, crucially, they do not get paid for giving preventative advice.

Obviously I don't want to go private until we absolutely have to but I can't rule out that we will do.

It's something that I will resist as long as I can keep the practice running and yes I could make more money if I was working privately, but I'm more comfortable at the moment making a bit less, but still staying with the NHS.

Dr Anthony Griffiths

Massive changes to NHS dentistry

The government plans, which will see responsibility for NHS dentistry devolved from the Department of Health to local Primary Care Trusts, are included in the Health and Social Care Act currently going through Parliament.

Negotiations between the primary care trusts, the British Dental Association and the Department of Health are on-going so details of what exactly the reforms will entail are sketchy but it is likely that the current piecework system, getting paid per filling you do, will be scrapped and replaced with a different approach, possibly salaries for dentists.

Whatever the final shape of the deal, the salary offered to NHS dentists is likely to be far short of the £150,000 a year they could command in private practice.

Sue's chances of getting a check up are still going to rest on finding a dentist willing to work for less in the NHS.

And ... also on Politics Show

A mothers place is in the workforce?

Mothers and toddlers at the Sure Start Project in Alfreton, Derbyshire

Is the government putting pressure on mothers to go back to work sooner than they would like?

Changes in the New Deal for Lone Parents mean that from next year single mothers claiming Income Support will have to attend a work focussed meeting at the job centre just three months after their youngest child turns five.

If they fail to attend benefits can be cut.

When the scheme was introduced in April 2001 it was for parents who's youngest child was aged between 13 and 15.

The implication is that the parents of school aged children should be thinking about going out to work.

If I look back at the last six years, I do think that we have given the impression that all mothers should be working, preferably full-time, as soon as their children are a few months old.

Patricia Hewitt MP, Minister for Women

The government is investing heavily in services for young families.

By next March the Sure Start initiative will provide nursery places for 400,000 children, in 524 schemes mainly in deprived areas.

Critics claim that the portfolio of childcare, training and support isn't just about giving the children a sure start in life.

They believe the Government wants to be sure that their parents are thinking about starting back at work.

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