EDITORIAL BOARD
Ian Wood BDS MPhil MGDS RCS ( Ed ) FFGDP ( UK ) DPDS Specialist Prosthodontist
THOUGHTS FROM the Editor
Dr Julian Perry BDS FGDP . RCS DipImpDent .
RCS ( Eng )
Pam Swain MBA LCGI FIAM MCMI
Dr Tim Sunnucks BDS MSc DRDP FICD
Specialist in Endodontics
Neil Patel BDS MJDF RCS ( Eng )
Robin Bryant BDS ( Sheffield ) 1992 MGDS RCs ( Eng ) MFGDP ( UK ) DipImpDent RCS ( Eng .)
MANAGEMENT BOARD
Dr David Phillips OBE BDS FDSRCS FFG- DP ( UK )
Dr Roger Matthews MA BDS FFGDP ( UK ) FDSRCS ( Edin )
Dr Paul Langmaid CBE , BDS ( Wales ) MDS . FDS FFGDP FPH
Professor Mike Mulcahy BChD . MSc . FFGDP ( UK ). FRCS ( Hon ). FDS ( Hon ). MGDS . LDS . RCS ( Eng ) l It doesn ’ t seem any time since I was writing this column for our first – the January issue – in the new series of Dental Practice . It was a busy time and I must confess that I have been delighted with the feedback that we have had from you , the readers . Please continue to let us know both what you think of what we are doing and , equally important , what you would like to see in future issues . At this point , I would like to thank all those who have supported this launch either by writing articles or by making suggestions . In particular , GPDUK has been a great source of ideas - thank you .
One of the problems which seems to be causing a great deal of concern at the present time is that of dental patients turning up at A & E Departments of the local hospitals . According to some reports , over 135,000 visits to A & E each year are being made by people seeking treatment for dental problems – around 1 in 140 are for tooth trouble . According to a study by Dr Justin Durham the consultant oral surgeon at Newcastle University , seven patients a day visited Newcastle A & E with twice as many visits being made on a Saturday ( non-work day ) as on a Wednesday . “ It ’ s quite surprising how many patients we are seeing . They will be in pain and a lot of it . It ’ s grossly unpleasant for the individual and it adds to the queue of people in A & E waiting to be seen . Patients suffer lifelong damage as doctors fail to treat tooth problems and accident and emergency departments are congested with people who should be at a dental surgery . Some people return to hospital dozens of times because the pain refuses to go away . Rising fees and difficulties in getting to see a dentist mean patients are saving money by going to hospital .” The BDA has put the cost to the NHS as more than £ 18 million per year .
One has to ask whether this is simply a matter of cost and / or availability of dentists . If you have problems with your eye , you can see an ophthalmologist , free of charge , if you have a medicinal problem , you can discuss it with a pharmacist , free of charge . However , if you live in England , Northern Ireland or Wales , if you need dental treatment you have to pay for a checkup and treatment - £ 19.70 to £ 233.70 in England , £ 6.68 in Northern Ireland and £ 13.50 in Wales . Check-ups in Scotland are free . Furthermore , if you need a dentist out of hours , in England , it will cost you £ 50 whereas A & E provides a free service 24 hours a day seven days a week .
However , the two situations are not the same . If you go to your dentist , then any treatment from a check-up , through antibiotics , to extraction etc is available . However , if you turn up at A & E having , for example , suffered a sporting injury on a Saturday afternoon , or suffering toothache might be given painkillers but the problem is not solved and will not go away . In the main , A & E departments are not equipped to offer professional dental treatment . Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen , of the BDA , said : “ Ministers keep underestimating how much their indifference to dentistry has knock-on effects across the health service . Government ’ s only strategy is to ask our patients to pay more in to plug the funding gap .”
The provision of an out of hours service is not a simple one but one area where a very efficient OOH service is being provided in in Caithness and Sutherland in the far north of Scotland . This is described by Major Malcolm Harrison on page 50 of this issue . Rodney Pitt Editor
Rodney Pitt – Editor E : Rodney @ dentalpracticemagazine . co . uk T : 07828 500794
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Lisa Angel – Accounts E : lisa @ kv-media . co . uk T : 01206 266747
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Dental Practice Magazine
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