I am really concerned about the state of this country and the welfare of the people who live in the UK who work so very hard and are struggling to cope with life . Yet it seems no one is seeing it or feeling things must change . The huge divide between the rich and the poor is greater than ever . I am seeing prices rise in the shops and food prices at least 20%: higher than 6 months ago . Standards of living not what they were . My sister just paid £600 for dental treatment , my friend had her dental app cancelled as her dentist left . Today I went to my NHS dentist the only one left in the practice, she works 3 days a week. What was once a practice with 4 NHS dentists is now a practice with 1 NHS dentist and 3 private . The costs for treatments are huge . My friend is like me a pensioner with no private pensions , she is worried sick about her teeth and future treatment and her small amount of savings is all she has .
Is it just me that’s looking at this country and thinking why are the British people just sitting back and not standing up and doing something about it . We have had and still have a government of multi millionaires who really have no idea of the life of hard working people struggling. Poor families with children , mortgages through the roof for families , no homes to rent . Heating costs enormous, Homeless on the street . Immigrants piling into our country wanting handouts and being homed in hotels . It’s feels all so wrong and I am fed up with it .
Why do the British people sit back and allow it to happen. Why the hell aren’t we revolting and showing this government we’ve had enough. What can be done
My next dental appointment will cost a lot of money as it will be private as my dentist has said they will be leaving. I have my state pension. I worked from the age of 14 . I had no skills so worked in shops or cleaning and until I was 50 found education in college and worked for a company where I paid into a meagre pension scheme. I’ve never received benefits, neither my adult kids . I own my little 2 up 2 down terrace house and now am thinking I will have to take out some kind of equity release to live till I die .
I’m ranting and I’m fed up and feel I want to start a revolution but don’t know how
Sometimes you’ve got to hand it to the French people who were happy to engage in massive demonstrations five years ago. Road blocks, go slows, marches and rioting. It did have some effect but, arguably not as much as the organisers hoped for. However the principle of mass demonstration and action is something good old Brits shy away from.
I try not to get too carried away with politics on here because, well, I am a bit of a revolutionary and I don’t want to get too boring or too nasty/angry
But this dentist thing is absolutely disgusting No NHS dentists, the poor are resorting to pulling their own teeth out in agony and despair. We should be furious, not just accepting
I broke my front tooth off a couple of weeks ago. I do have an NHS dentist but the first emergency appointment they could give me was January 2024! By then it would have broken off more, decayed or hot infected and I would have lost it
Our practice is a disgrace. It expanded and expanded, so all the other NHS dentists closed. Then the original owners retired, and a private company bought it and they just don’t want NHS, either throwing you off their books or making it do hard to get an appointment you give up
So I went privately elsewhere, it cost me £247
So please indulge me in a little bit of political propaganda
There is an organisation formed called Toothless in England to campaign for NHS dentistry which I support
These are their demands
An NHS dentist for everyone
Reforms to the NHS dental contract that will encourage dentists to provide NHS treatments
Revenue to cover the 50 per cent of the population that are unfunded by the government
NHS dental treatments to be free at the point of use
People to be prioritised before shareholder dividend - no more privatisation
An end to the two-tier system - hygienists, routine check-ups and preventative treatments must be a core NHS function
They have local branches and local campaigns do if there isn’t one in your area, perhaps you could contact them and start one?
Susan it’s the same everywhere .
My NHS dentist left ( he had only ever done 3 min check ups on me ) then I had an infection and there was no other dentist they wouldn’t even give me anti biotics.
However their private dept did ( email prescription £35 and then £10 for the actual stuff from the chemist ) strange how they could do this sight unseen .
They don’t have any NHS patients now unless you are on benefits or are children …
So I now go to a private dentist but I am lucky that I can pay .
We also pay for the doctors after a lifetime of paying in and not needing them
We have never taken advantage of the NHS but now my husband needs it and so he pays .( otherwise wait forever and we are at an age where we may not have time to wait )
But this means a two tier society those who can pay and those who can’t .
It’s not right
Yes yes and yes I am feeling really pi…ed off about it and can’t believe we brits just shrug shoulders and turn away . When is it actually going to make people realise we are considered worthless by those who are supposed to care about the country. I’m not a clever person who understands politics although I’ve always voted but I just think who really does care ?
How the heck do we get through this , people pulling their own teeth out , appaling situation .
I feel angry for myself and my hardworking kids and I’m worried about my financial situation the longer I live . Thank God I have a house I can convert to money
I largely agree Lincolnshire, not happy with the rioting reference though. Rioting in the the UK seems to be an excuse for looting destruction and burning.
In short yes, we need to take a long hard think about protest, the French are so much better at it than us.
I think it’s only a matter of time until this country explodes into chaos and anarchy.
People are already at breaking point with no light at the end of the tunnel.
I give the NHS ten years max and when that day comes I’ll be off like a shot to warmer climbs.
I totally blame brexit for the lack of dentists, medical staff, hike in costs of food etc, lack of decent tradespeople to carry out basic repairs etc etc. They should bring back freedom of movement from the EU as that filled all the gaps and ensured we had cheap food and plenty of staff everywhere. People will doubtless blame the war and covid, but that is not the reason we cannot find enough dentists to work in parts of the UK. They brought in temporary visas for doctors from the EU etc, but who wants to relocate for 3 months?
The Tories would just like to wash their hands of the NHS. It’s a real thorn in their side. They are trimming services by stealth.
There is very much a “kicking the can down the road” mentality by successive governments. This combined with recklessly throwing money around in between one crisis and another.
They are just discussing social care on Sky news. We are an international disgrace in that area. Of course it’s not a sexy topic for politicians.
That’s bullocks Annie…Brexit has nothing to do with the lack of dentists. All the dentists that I visited throughout my life have all been British, the brief visit that I did before covid was to first a Spanish dentist, and then a Romanian bloke. The lack of the government to make sure our trainee nurses and doctors were well rewarded meant that nobody wanted to spend half their life being skint. Again, nothing to do with Brexit…
Sending all our young folk to university learning stuff they will probably never need instead of sending the practical students to apprenticeships in the skilled trades we now find ourselves short of. And buying all our stuff from China instead of making it here. We have become a nation of idlers who would rather work in a nice warm office and keep their hands clean.
Brexit has been deliberately sabotaged because the people dared to challenge the government. Leaving the EU could have produced an exciting future for Britain, instead it has been turned into lesson in humility.
it’s everything to do with Brexit. Lots of dentists who could leave the Uk did leave. My dentist who was I think originally from India and had grown up in Sweden returned there just after Brexit. His dental nurses likewise returned to their (European) countries. There’s a massive shortage of dental nurses who were mainly staffed from EU nations. When a British dentist leaves your area to go somewhere like Australia, NZ or the USA where they have a better life, there is nobody to replace them. That’s where they are heading in droves if they have been trained here. Who can blame them?
So, is there an answer and what happens meanwhile to those poor people who have no money to pay for treatment ? If I was to go to a hospital in terrible pain with toothache they would send me home to take paracetamol, then what . Someone struggling to cope financially anyway, who then pays the piper ?
Our country is an appaling mess and governments should be ashamed
There is no straightforward solution to the dental problems we have. Working in NHS dentistry just isn’t lucrative these days. The private dental industry is consolidating under big guns such as BUPA. Dental materials are increasing in price as are lab costs. Dentists who are NHS seem to prefer to sell invis align quick fix orthodontics privately on the side rather than spend as much time on their NHS work. Others go abroad because their skills are sought internationally. That leaves foreign dentists who want to work here because they want to move to Britain and trainees who are being pushed into work they are not ready for. A friend has been on a waiting list for a trainee at her practice to finish qualifying and has just found out that she has qualified but left the practice! Other than the training and experience there is nothing to attract people into NHS dentistry and then stay in the NHS. You can’t force people with dental degrees to stay in the NHS unless you provide free dental degrees contingent on the fact that they then work in the NHS for a minimum of 15 years say.
I can’t remember the exact date but I think I stopped being an NHS checkbook dentistry victim sometime from the mid to late 80’s when I joined Denplan. Since then, my annual Denplan fees have proved to be less than an NHS dentist undertaking unnecessary work just add to his/her ever growing bank account. My plan covers for all work needed for a standard fee and that means more preventative work and far less unwarranted remedials. With Denplan, it’s in the dentist’s interest to carry out preventative work as and when needed than to wait until failure meant more invasive and costly work at his/her expense. To me this is a win-win situation
No NHS dentists, the poor are resorting to pulling their own teeth out in agony and despair. We should be furious, not just accepting
