Nationally, NHS dentists are a rare breed.
Up until July this year, our town of 18 000 souls was served by 5 dentists in three practices, all working under the NHS , meaning that people of average income would receive at least partly subsidised treatment. A check-up, for example, would cost £12.
In July, our dental practice went private, meaning that a check-up now costs about £25.
About eight weeks ago, a second dental practice went private, with a mad scramble of their NHS patients fighting for a place on their private lists, which are considerably smaller than their old NHS lists.
This left only one of the original 5 dentists still seeing NHS patients, until last Saturday, when he too decided to leave the sinking NHS ship and go private. There was again a huge queue of ex-NHS patients hoping to sign up for a place in their private practice, and again many folk were unsuccessful, and will have to travel considerable distances to find an NHS dentist or even a private dentist who has space for them in their patient lists.
It is getting to the point when people are seriously considering having all their remaining teeth extracted and having dentures fitted on the grounds that it will be infinitely cheaper in the long run.......
No comments:
Post a Comment