If you’ve been reading the news over the last few weeks, chances are you may have bumped into a story or two about NHS dentistry.
A couple of patients have mentioned the subject, so I figured it was sensible to drop something out about it.
Essentially, if you haven’t seen it, an “NHS Dental Recovery Plan” has been mooted, with money being made available to incentivise dentists to take on NHS patients who haven’t been to the dentist for more than two years.
The last thing I’m going to do is wade into the politics of this one, but for dentists all over the land, I feel like it needs to be stated: most (if not all) of the money being made available isn’t new money, and – as you’d expect – the money being offered does come with significant strings attached.
The sad reality is that it’s not going to change the game – it won’t suddenly “fix” NHS dentistry.
It’s my sincere hope that these measures can help those struggling to access dental services, but unfortunately, I can’t see us looking back on this moment as the time when “it all changed”.
The NHS is a wonderful thing, and I’m regularly inspired by those who work in it.
But the fact of the matter is that based on the current situation, for dentistry to thrive in the NHS, it needs either:
1. Significantly more funding
2. The system to be changed to a core service to help those with the most dental needs
It’s been two years since we gave up our NHS contract. We did this with a heavy heart, as we wanted to help as many people as we could, and we had previously tried to do it through the NHS.
In the two years since, we’ve been able to have a much bigger impact, and help far more people with their long term dental health by firstly focussing on prevention and long lasting solutions rather than only dealing with issues as they arise.
I won’t pretend it’s perfect – in an ideal world, I’d love to help everyone for free, but as we all know, that’s not the way the world works.
As always, we aim to make treatment as affordable as we can, and offer membership plans from just 33p a day – if you’d like to discuss one, please feel free to get in touch.
