DT News - UK - Take dental system out of hands of politicians, professionals demand

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 5 January 2017

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LONDON, UK: In a letter to the Daily Telegraph this week, over 1,000 dental professionals have called for regaining control of NHS-provided dentistry from politicians. The system has worsened to such an extent that it cannot properly provide even basic services for half the population each year, the signees claim.

“The incompetence is reflected by the increasingly frequent hospitalisation of children with rotten teeth, the expansion of dental charities providing emergency dental care in England, and the failure of dental NHS 111, as recently reported on ITV Good Morning Britain—all compounded by watered-down obesity and sugar-tax policies,” the letter stated.

“It’s time to stop tolerating excuses and start preventing like we mean it,” it also said.

The letter was signed by over 1,000 dental professionals throughout Britain, including GDPUK founder and dentist Dr Tony Jacobs. It is the fourth year that the group has gone public regarding the deficiencies in the nation’s dental care system.

In a reply to the letter, the British Dental Association (BDA) said that, while it shares the concerns raised about the failings of the system, the actual problem is ministerial indifference.
“We need to see politicians more engaged on oral health and NHS dentistry, not any further removed,” BDA Principal Executive Committee Chair Mick Armstrong stated in a comment published in response to the letter.

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