Why was / is dental care so restricted?

Dental care during the pandemic was non existent. Only people who can afford private care received any sort of treatment and there is no sign of this changing any time soon. Why?

Why the contribution is important

People have teeth literally rotting in their gums as a result of lack of basic dental care. This needs to improve soon.

by Julie on September 28, 2021 at 07:04PM

Current Rating

Average rating: 4.8
Based on: 7 votes

Comments

  • Posted by CathieR September 29, 2021 at 05:25

    I completely agree the Governments approach to limiting dental services throughout the pandemic must be investigated and the evidence base for this opened to public scrutiny.
    Dentists managed to operate through the HIV Aids scares and Hep C. I understand there is no known case transmission of Covid in a dental chair. I also understand dental services were not curtailed like this internationally and indeed in Scotland, private dentistry was able to function without such massive limitations.
    1. Is it true that private dentistry was available because they could c chart for PPE whereas NHS dentists were limited to about ten appointments a day when before the total lockdown they had been doing 50 or so?
    How many oral cancers have been missed because of the dearth of dental services.

  • Posted by jlaverie September 29, 2021 at 07:45

    Unfair that private dentistry could be done but not NHS. Most cannot afford private and what is the difference that a dentist could do one but not the other?

  • Posted by Mgtmail September 29, 2021 at 17:17

    This was a particularly distressing time for people without the pain of unrelenting toothache. Private dentistry was availble and for a small filling I paid £350 pounds; fortunately I was able to do so but how many of our more vulnerable members of our communities are able to do that ? Yes there were limited NHS dentist appointments availble for emergency work, but that emergency work often took 4-6 weeks before an emergency appointment.
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