Pressure On Dentists To Treat Less Children

Thu, 14 Feb 2008

Dentists in Britain are under increasing pressure to reduce the amount of children they treat, as the NHS cannot afford to fund their care, according to dental pressure group Challenge.

The group claims that health trusts want dentists to concentrate on seeing to adult patients who have to pay for treatment .

The comments were made at the start of an inquiry into the state of UK dental services by the House of Commons Health Select Committee, with recent figures revealing that one in three children has not visited a dentist for up to two years.

"There is a danger that children will be turned away because of undue pressure from primary care trusts to get revenue from dentists," said Eddie Crouch, founder member of Challenge.

"This money obviously comes from adult patients who pay for treatment ."

He added: "The new arrangements have failed to provide many of the important benefits that the Department of Health wished to achieve. There are growing inequalities in access to care, and the quality assurance mechanisms are woeful."

The London Regional Group of Local Dental Committees backed Mr Crouch’s comments, stating that "children and adults who are exempt from NHS charges are among the most in need of dental help".

"We know of dentists who have been told that unless they see a higher proportion of paying NHS patients, they will have their contract capacity curtailed," the committee said in a statement.

"This attitude tends to increase rather than reduce socio-economic inequalities."
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