Ukraine child refugees head home for dental treatment

REFUGEES are sending their children back to Ukraine for dental treatment because they cannot find a dentist in this country, MPS have heard.

Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat MP and former party leader, said: “There are some children in Cumbria who find it easier to find dental treatment in a warzone than to access NHS dental care that their parents have already paid for through their taxes.”

Mr Farron said: “I’ve heard first hand from my constituency the shocking scale of the difficulty of getting access to appointments for children.

“A large number of our children are Polish, Romania, Lativan and Ukrainian and, therefore, find it easier to travel back to their parents’ home country, rather than wait for a dentist who is accepting NHS patients.

During an opposition debate on NHS dentistry Wes Streeting, Labour’s health spokesman, said the number of people attempting DIY dentistry because they cannot access care was a “moral outrage”. Research suggests one in 10 people have attempted to treat themselves, while eight in 10 practices are not accepting new patients.

A string of Labour MPS said it was impossible to access NHS dental treatment in their constituencies and some constituents were living on “painkillers and soup” while they seek help.

Mr Streeting said tooth decay was “the No 1 reason why children aged six to 10 end up in hospital”, adding: “One in 10 Brits ... have been forced to attempt dentistry themselves because the NHS wasn’t there for them.

“This is Dickensian. DIY dentistry in 21st-century Britain. Is there any greater example of the decline this country has been subjected to under the Conservatives?”