Mirror gives David reason to smile again
Gets NHS slot after our story
A RETIRED miner is “over the moon” to finally get an NHS dental appointment after a seven-month wait – thanks to his favourite paper.
David Creamer, 62, was in agony after his set of four crowns fell out but he could not find an NHS dentist.
He was forced on to a diet of prescription painkillers and soup because he could not afford the £5,400 to go private.
We featured David in our Dentists for All campaign last week – and on Monday, he got a phone call from a local dentist inviting him for an appointment.
David, who struggles surviving on benefits, said:
“I would like to say a massive thanks to the Daily Mirror. It will help lots of other people. We need the Mirror to carry on such hard work in the face of this terrible disappearing government.”
David, who worked for 17 years at Silverwood Colliery, South Yorks, was in constant pain after his crowns fell out on holiday in Blackpool last June. He went to an emergency dentist in the seaside resort but said it was chock-ablock and he could not be seen.
David saw his GP back home in Rotherham, South Yorks, and was prescribed strong co-codamol painkillers, which he takes every four hours, and anti-inflammatory drug naproxen.
He plans to celebrate the news by going for a pint in his local pub. David said: “I’m very, very pleased.
“It all just came out of the blue, the call came from a dentist in Rotherham called Ivy Cottage Dental Care.
“They said, ‘We’ve been told to offer you an appointment.’ For months I’ve been in agony, but all of a sudden I’ve been accepted. It’s obviously the Daily Mirror.”
Mr Creamer said he is “disgusted” that he had to go to the media first.
Jayne Elfleet-Radford, from Riverdale Health Care, which runs Ivy Cottage, said: “We found a solution for this problem. We are like every NHS practice, struggling to meet demand.”