Don’t Go to the Dentist in Great Britain
It’s long been obvious that you don’t want to get cancer in Great Britain. (Obviously, you don’t want to get it anywhere, but especially in a country which will take your money to provide health care but then won’t provide the drugs necessary to save your life.) You don’t want to have kidney disease there. Or suffer most any other ailment.
You also don’t want to have to go to the dentist there.
Changes in the way dentists are paid mean they effectively have no financial incentive to give appropriate treatment, the Commons Health Select Committee said.
Under the new contract, dentists receive an agreed annual sum rather than being paid for each individual treatment.
The committee found the number of dentists extracting a decaying tooth rather than carrying out a more complicated procedure had increased.
As a result, the volume of more complex work like crowns, bridges and dentures has fallen by 57%.
Evidence presented to the committee also suggested that patients were being pushed unnecessarily into the hospital system.
A survey carried out by the British Dental Association in 2007 found 78% of clinical directors had seen an increase in referrals from general dentists.
“We are concerned about the increase in referrals of patients requiring complex treatment to dental hospitals and community dentists,” the MPs said.
“This can be bad for those patients who would prefer to be treated by their general dental practitioner and can also have adverse effects on patients who are traditionally treated in these settings and have to wait longer for treatment.”
The report said it was “extraordinary” that the Department of Health did not carry out pilot studies on the new system before introducing it across England.
And it said that, despite assurances from the Government that the new arrangements would work if Primary Care Trusts and dentists acted more flexibly and used common sense and goodwill, the Committee “saw little evidence this will happen”.
Figures released last month showed that almost a million fewer people are now seeing an NHS dentist than before the Government’s reforms.
Well, why worry about the quality of your care? You’re equal with everyone else, who also is not receiving proper medical attention. So there’s no cause for complaint, right!?