Dear LPG,     

The news has been with us for quite some time but it is as if the lack of affordable dental care has risen to an all-time-high recently and, when we hear the details we have to wonder if we will ever get to the point when the really high statistics will start to subside. 

I suspect that for those who have never suffered serious toothache it is one aspect of the news that we don’t pay a lot of attention to, but I was shocked to see a recent television interview where a lady told that her toothache had become so bad that she gave up trying to find a dentist to deal with it and pulled seven of them out herself.   

There is a lot of information about the lack of dental care available at the moment in the UK and I think that I have been really lucky when I look at the statistics available on the internet because I have to thank God that I have never really experienced serious toothache.  But I have watched a friend who suffers greatly go backwards and forwards to the dentist as she tries to get a denture that fits properly.  The pain has forced her to return to her dentist some 4 times since this denture was made and she has paid over and over again to have the denture she recently had made re fitted and is paying every time that she visits. I asked her if she was paying for private treatment or the national health version and she doesn’t even know.  I suppose, if you are in that much discomfort you will pay anything you have to be rid of it only to count the cost on your budget after.

I used to listen to her talk about how difficult it is to chew anything properly and, even though I can’t see how bad she thinks she looks as a result of the ill-fitting teeth, the way they look, the way that they affect her speech and the way she thinks that she looks is affecting her in other ways.  There are places she does not want to go because of the odd way that she needs to eat by using one section of her mouth and she is so self-conscious about the way the ill-fitting teeth force her to change her expression.  All the news on the problems got me thinking.  If you are lucky enough to be able to afford private care, it seems to be a lot easier to get dental help while we all know that finding a good dentist at an affordable price can be a nightmare, especially if you are in pain. 

Luckily I think that she is over her problems at last but, while I have watched the anguish it has caused her, it got the two of us taking a look at what the internet has to offer on the subject.  

We found quite a bit of information including an explanation that makes the whole payment system a bit easier to understand about the technical NHS payment system (the banking system was the thing that confused us most) and what you get for your money. And having found it we have asked LPG to share it.   

TM, New Cross

TM shares the television clip that got her and her friend thinking…

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…what they learned about the cost of treatment…

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And a little more about oral health in general…

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