Patient forced to spend £8,000 on ‘Turkey teeth’
He claims NHS dentist kicked him out amid the pandemic
ABIRMINGHAM grandad with seven good teeth said he was forced to spend £8,000 on dental treatment in Turkey after claiming his dentist kicked him out following the pandemic.
Lawrence Wilcox lost his dentures and was eating only soup and soft food when he couldn’t find an NHS dentist to replace them.
The retired blacksmith, from Harborne, said he was now “skint” after flying to Turkey, having called every dentist in the area to told they were not taking on NHS patients.
One in four people are now unable to get or afford a dental appointment, according to reports.
Many are resorting to ripping out their own teeth with shoelaces or booking appointments overseas, similar to Mr Wilcox.
The 79-year-old said his treatment in Turkey was far cheaper than a UK dental quote of more than £40,000 for a set of implants.
He stayed away from his dentist in Harborne during the pandemic but said he was later told that because he hadn’t kept up regular check-ups, he was no longer registered with them.
The grandfather-of-three had seven good teeth but needed dentures around them.
He said: “I just needed a dentist to do me a new set of dentures. I phoned around every dentist in the district and they were just saying no more NHS patients.
“I was eating soup and soft food for a month.”
Flying to Turkey, he had 12 dental
implants, two root canals, 15 extractions and 28 porcelain crowns at a cost of £8,000.
“When I came back with my teeth I told people about my situation and everyone I spoke to said the same thing or knows someone who can’t get an NHS dentist,” said Lawrence. “This is a crisis.
“I’m skint now, though. The NHS ought to provide dentistry but it doesn’t any more.”
Speaking about his experience in
Turkey as a health tourist, Lawrence explained: “You pay for a package and it includes flights and hotel stay while you have them done. They even send a limo to the hotel to take you to the dentist.”
Analysis of the GP Survey suggests 11 million people in England have been left waiting to see a dentist.
It said UK patients heading abroad seeking “Turkey teeth” had increased a hundredfold in four years.
Some of the most complex cases were being turned away on the NHS because the funding formula could leave dentists missing targets and facing financial penalties, reported The Mirror.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We are working to improve access to NHS dental care by investing more than £3 billion a year in dentistry for all NHS patients but we know there is more to do.
“We have enabled NHS dental practices to deliver an extra 10% of NHS care on top of their contracts to improve patient access and recently completed work to remove barriers and support dental team members such as therapists and hygienists to work to their full skill set in the NHS.
“The number of dentists practising in the NHS increased by over 500 last year and we recently implemented reforms to provide fairer pay for practices to take on high needs patients also.”
I phoned around every dentist in the district and they said no more NHS patients. I was eating soup and soft food for a month Lawrence Wilcox