When I started this Campaign, I knew nothing about dental care or how it was funded by the NHS. I was therefore surprised when I read a comment under one of the updates by a lady saying she remembered when dental care was free. So I decided to find out why and when it changed …
It’s easy to blame politicians but … did you know …
In 1948 the NHS was born and for the first time ever, dental care was free. However, more than three quarters of the population over the age of 18 had complete dentures – due to the Boer War, World Wars 1 and 2 and of course poor diet, rationing and a lack of preventative dentistry. From 1948, the demand for dental care on the NHS increased from 15-20 patients a day to over 100 and in the first 9 months of the NHS, dentists provided over 33 million artificial teeth (rising to an incredible 65.5 million in 1950-1951)!
By 1951, the NHS was already running out of money and to help ease the burden, Hugh Gaitskell, Chancellor for the Labour Government in power at the time, introduced charges for dental work and glasses. Unsurprisingly, the demand for dental services dropped. Later that year, the Conservatives won the election and were faced with the rising cost of the NHS and introduced the National Health Service Act of 1952 that included costs for prescriptions as well. So, funding for the NHS has always been an issue, almost from when the NHS was conceived. It's not anything that either a Labour or Conservative Government have done. We are an ageing and growing population and each year this puts more and more strain on the NHS.
Turning back to dentistry, in June 2015 "Which?" The consumer group, contacted 500 dental surgeries (listed as NHS dentists) and found that 31% of them were refusing to take on any new NHS patients and this is definitely one of the issues that I found a recurring theme from cancer patients.
Just to make things more complicated, some Dentistry isn’t available on the NHS (and never has been) …
For example, if you need root canal treatment, this is usually the most difficult thing that your local dentist may have to help you with. It can be complex and there’s not a one size fits all. However, if a root canal fails, your dentist may not be able to help. The reason for this is twofold. Firstly, it needs a specialised dentist called an endodontist and secondly, they may need to use specialised equipment (costing £12,000 upwards). The majority of dentists are not trained to carry out this specialised work, and even when they are, the cost of equipment is prohibitive.
Where dental treatment differs from the rest of your body is this: If you go to a GP they may refer you to a specialist depending on what’s wrong – the specialist is nearly always available on the NHS – so if you have something wrong with your heart, you will see a Cardiologist, if you’re diagnosed with cancer, you see an Oncologist etc. With dentistry it’s different. If a dentist refers you to an orthodontist, there are none available on the NHS and therefore the cost is nearly always on a private basis.
Lastly, something I wasn’t aware of when I started the campaign …… if you need a tooth extracted towards the back of your mouth, the extraction may be provided under the NHS dental banding but having a bridge or crown may not be available on the NHS. This is because treatment is only available on the NHS if the missing teeth affect your ability to eat.
How will this campaign help?
Clearly, funding the NHS is a hot topic and during the recent general election there was a focus on how much money would be spent and where. I started this campaign to raise awareness and make changes because dentistry often appears to be outside the NHS. For example, if you’re diagnosed with cancer, you concentrate completely on that diagnosis – your first thought is not to go to the dentist for a check-up. However, having a check-up and possibly dental work carried out before cancer treatments start may well lead to less problems and ultimately less cost to the NHS.
To conclude, I am under no illusion that the Government will just agree to free dental treatment for cancer patients. I think the road will be a long one but we need to start somewhere. The good news is that it looks like the conversation has at least started!