THIRD WORLD AID FOR UK DENTISTS
Charity steps in as NHS funding crisis leaves patients with no tooth care
DENTAL patients denied NHS care are being treated by a charity that works in Third World countries.
Dentaid stepped in as a funding crisis is leaving UK kids’ teeth worse than those in poverty-stricken Africa.
One dentist said of the scandal: “It’s terrible.”
NHS funds crisis leaves patients with no oral care WITH almost half of NHS dentists reportedly closed to new patients amid a funding crisis, people suffering agonising tooth problems are left with nowhere to go.
So many are now being treated for free by a charity that normally operates in Third World countries. And in a shocking indictment of the lack of care available, aid workers have revealed the oral health of children here is far worse than in poverty-stricken parts of Africa.
Dentaid, which works across that continent, Asia and Central America, has set up temporary dental surgeries in Britain in a bid to combat the crisis.
Chief executive Andrew Evans said: “We recognised there was a need within the UK with people struggling to access NHS care. I have heard dentists saying it is worse than at one of our projects in Malawi. The state of oral health [in the UK] has been a big surprise.
“They are struggling to eat because they are in so much pain.
“Dental pain is recognised as being one of the worst pains you can have.
“It impacts everything you do. People sometimes cannot eat, they cannot drink, breathing cold air is painful because of nerve endings being attacked.
“It’s pain you can’t get away from. Imagine that happening and not being able to access care.”
Latest figures show 160 youngsters are having teeth taken out under general anaesthesia in England every day. Tooth decay is now the number one reason for child emergency hospital admissions.
Dentists at the Malawi project saw 20 people in a four-hour session. Of them 13 needed teeth extractions.
Dentaid, which has been operating in the developing world for 21 years, began treatment here in December 2015 after hearing patients turning up at foodbanks were unable to eat because of the state of their mouths.
Its first project was at Dewsbury, West Yorks. The charity expanded and has mobile services in Hampshire, Cornwall and Buckinghamshire.
Data from the NHS Choices website suggested almost half of NHS surgeries in England are closed to new patients.
Communities in West Yorkshire are among the worst affected. In Kirklees 96% of practices say they cannot take on new patients, according to NHS Choices.
The website showed Bradford, which has England’s fastest growing child population and major oral health issues, has no NHS access for new patients.
Dentaid works with local dentists, targeting low-income patients who are given free care or asked to pay if they can.
A US charity called Remote Area Medical also reportedly plans to set up mass temporary clinics in the UK offering free dental care.
Dentist Dr Tony Kilcoyne, of Haworth,
West Yorks, was one of more than 400 practitioners who wrote an open letter to the Government branding our dental system a disgrace. He said: “It is terrible when you have charities looking at Britain and seeing a desperate need to provide basic care.”
In their note, published in the Daily Telegraph, the group told how they are struggling in a system which was “under-resourced and focused more on experimental targets and tickboxes than patients”.
It added: “Not only is rotten teeth the number one medical reason for any child being admitted to hospital, but Third Worldbased dental charities are looking to come here as our inadequate dental systems are now an international disgrace.”
The British Dental Association said current Government funding is only enough to pay for half the population.
It is demanding reform of the system which it says effectively sets a quota on the number of patients dentists can treat with a fixed amount of Units of Dental Activity payments. Practitioners are penalised if they don’t hit their activity target but not paid more if they exceed it. Figures last year showed 4.4 million UDAs worth £129million were not delivered.
In most cases the money is lost to the service and not reallocated to areas where surgeries are closed to new NHS patients.
Mr Evans said the state of some people’s teeth who are unable to get NHS care is so bad, dentists would be out of pocket by treating them.
He added: “The way the NHS contract works they can get so many Units of Dental Activity payments for each quadrant of the mouth. If they have multiple fillings or extractions from the same area it would take dentists a lot of time and they would lose money.”
The Mirror last month revealed how years of above-inflation 5% annual increases in dental charges have come as government funding from taxation has dropped by £7.50 per head.
Analysis by the British Dental Association shows direct spending on NHS dental services from general taxation has fallen in real terms by £26million once adjusted for inflation – forcing dentists to set limits on the number of patients they can take on regardless of their oral health state.
NHS England yesterday insisted 95% of people looking for an appointment could get one.
A spokesman said: “A recent survey of patients showed that when people need an NHS dentist appointment, they are almost always able to get one, and that nearly nine times out of 10 their experience is positive.
“We recently launched Starting Well, a campaign targeted at highneed communities to help children under five see their dentist.”