NHS Dentistry Watch: NHS Dental Office Queues Banned
Mirror.co.uk: DENTIST QUEUES BANNED
QUEUES to sign up with new NHS dentists are to be banned by the Government.
Instead, people will have to make an appointment or register by phone to halt the long lines that have embarrassed Labour.
Dentistry minister Rosie Winterton told Primary Care Trusts it was “unacceptable” that people were forced to queue up for hours.
She added: “Of course, we want to consign the queues to history.”
So, rather than fix the abysmal National Health Service system and promote the privatization of British dentistry the Tony Blair Labour government decides it is better to “cover-up” the problem.
Labour has failed on Tony Blair’s 1999 promise that everyone in Britain would able to see a dentist for free within two years.
In some parts of the country, just one in five people have access to an NHS dentist.
Unpopular contracts being introduced by the Government are likely to make the problem worse.
The BBC reported that in parts of the country, NHS dentists who are converting to private practice in protest at the new contracts have been barred from continuing to treat children for free.
An “All or Nothing” mentality with the NHS will sink the entire NHS system.
Is this what British dentistry needs? A revolutionary private system?
You betcha…….
Previous:
NHS Dentistry Watch: One in five dentists ready to leave NHS
Dentistry Today: Failed Asylum Seeker Poses as a Dentist
Dentistry Today: Many Dentists “Set to Quit NHSâ€
NHS Dentistry Watch: Poll Says Dentists Will Still Quit
NHS Dentistry Watch: More Dentists Now, More Dentists Later
NHS Dentistry Watch: Dentists Reject £295 million Scottish Executive Deal
Dentistry Today: NHS Dentistry Near Collapse?
NHS Dentistry Watch: Disaster Warning
National Health Service Watch: The Doctors Complain
NHS Dentistry Watch: Do It Yourself Extraction
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Technorati Tags: dentistry, NHS, NHSdentistry, NationalHealthService, Britishdentistry, UKdentistry, dentist, dental
3 Comments
Dion Kramer
Hi,
Just discovered your blog. And have enjoyed your dentistry posts.
I look forward to returning.
Regards, Dion.
nyscof
“It may…be that fluoridation of drinking water does not have a strong protective effect against early childhood caries [cavities],” reports dentist Howard Pollick, University of California, and colleagues, in the Winter 2003 Journal of Public Health Dentistry
California Cavity-Epidemic Study Reveals Fluoridation is Ineffective
New York – February 22 — Fluoridated California communities have huge cavity rates and large dentist-neglected populations, according to a recent California study,1 reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF).
Although dentistry promises steep cavity reductions with fluoride-laced water supplies, that’s not happening in California which is in the midst of a cavity epidemic.2
For example: fluoridated Long Beach children have more cavities (75%) 3 than California state (71%) despite a state-wide fluoridation rate about one-fourth that of Long Beach. California is 27% fluoridated.
Los Angeles County is 44% fluoridated,4 yet 75% have tooth decay. 5 Santa Clara County, where several cities fluoridate,6 has a 72% cavity rate.7 Humboldt County is 35% fluoridated8 yet may have a higher cavity rate than California as a whole.9 Despite five fluoridated districts,6 Alameda County had double the statewide number of students needing urgent dental care.10 California is 27% fluoridated.
In contrast, NON-fluoridated Nassau County, New York, has a 50% cavity rate.11
Nationally 50% of six- to 8-year-olds have cavities.12 Fluoride is delivered to 2/3 of Americans via public water supplies and virtually 100% via the food supply
The California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) predicted that California preschoolers’ poor nutrition, soda drinking and poor dental care would lead to more tooth decay.13
“Cavity rates correlate with poor diet and lack of dental care – two symptoms of poverty – not fluoride intake,†says Paul Beeber, President NYSCOF. “Fluoridation proponents are unjustifiably using the California study to promote fluoridation, when, in fact, it proves fluoridation’s ineffectiveness,†says Beeber.
Calcium, magnesium, vitamins A, C, D and other nutrients, not fluoride, are required to build and maintain healthy teeth. Many California preschoolers lack these nutrients because they do not consume recommended amounts of fruit, vegetables and milk while drinking too much soda.13
With free and accessible dental care, military personnel’s dental health exceeds their civilian counterparts, reports the U.S. Surgeon General.14
Forty-percent of California’s uninsured schoolchildren have untreated decay.1 Few California dentists accept Medicaid patients.15 Yet, dental groups oppose allowing trained dental therapists to mitigate the oral health epidemic.(16a, b)
Many fluoridated communities experience cavity crises in the U.S.17 Children need dentists, not fluoridation.18
“With soda such an obvious and preventable cause of tooth decay, we question why the American Association of Pediatric Dentists accepted a $1 million grant from Coca-Cola,â€19 says Beeber.
Out of 24 states reporting, Californians had the second worst decay rates, behind Arkansas which is 62% fluoridated – Over twice the fluoridation rate of California .
According to a columnist for a California newspaper, “The Dental Health Foundation is basically a fluoridation advocacy group…many of the schools surveyed to show increased cavities were in L.A., Sacramento and San Francisco – all fluoridated communities.” (20)
Contact: Paul Beeber, President
New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation, Inc
PO Box 263
Old Bethpage, NY 11804
nyscof@aol.com
http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof
http://www.FluorideAction.Net
SOURCE: NYS Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation
References:
1) 2006 Oral Health Needs Assessment of Children, California Dental Health Foundation http://www.dentalhealthfoundation.org/topics/public/index.shtml
2) Childhood dental problems epidemic,
Study finds 71% of state’s 3rd-graders have tooth decay, San Francisco Chronicle, by Janine DeFao 02/06/06
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/06/BAGESH3C6S1.DTL
3) Dental disease sinks teeth into kids, by Kevin Butler, Press-Telegram, 2/6/06
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_3479344
4) “Your Health,†Los Angeles County Department of Health Services – Public Health Volume III; Number 2; Winter 2000
5) 2006 Oral Health Needs Assessment of Children, California Dental Health Foundation page Table 2 (Region 3)
http://www.dentalhealthfoundation.org/topics/public/index.shtml
6) Average Fluoride Levels of Public Water Systems in California Implementing Water Fluoridation
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/ps/ddwem/Fluoridation/Fluoridetable2002.PDF
7) “Oral Health Status of Children in Santa Clara County,†Results of the Health Trust 2001 Needs Assessment, December 2001,
http://www.healthtrust.org/pubs/OralHealthStatusofChildreninSantaClaraCounty.PDF
8) “Crisis with our Children,†Executive Summary, Humboldt County Children’s Oral Health Report, July 2001
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/health/pdf/exec_sum.pdf
9) “Humboldt sees high dental disease rates among children,†by Sara Watson Arthurs, The Times-Standard, 02/07/2006
http://www.co.humboldt.ca.us/health/pdf/exec_sum.pdf
10) Dental decay afflicts quarter of state’s kids, By Sandy Kleffman, Contra Costa Times, 02/06/2006
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/13803140.htm
11) Nassau County Community Health Assessment 2005-2010
http://www.nassaucountyny.gov/agencies/Health/Docs/PDF/2005-2010_CHA.pdf (page
12) U.S. Centers for Disease Control Oral Health At a Glance http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/publications/aag/oh.htm
13) The Health of Young Children in California: Findings from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. Los Angeles and Sacramento: UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and First 5 California, July 2003.
http://www.healthpolicy.ucla.edu/pubs/publication.asp?pubID=71
14) U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General. 2000 (page 87)
15) Distribution of Medicaid Dental Services in California.
A paper by the Center for California Health Workforce Studies
at the UCSF Center for the Health Professions, December 2000
http://www.futurehealth.ucsf.edu/pdf_files/Medicaid%20Dental%20Report.PDF
16a) “American Dental Association Files Suit Over Unlicensed Dental Therapists Providing Care In Rural Areas, NPR Reports,†Feb 12, 2005
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=37250&nfid=rssfeeds
b) “State board acts for California dentists, not public,†Sacramento Bee editorial 2/7/06http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=ED-DENTISTS-02-07-06
17) http://www.orgsites.com/ny/nyscof2/_pgg6.php3
18) http://www.orgsites.com/ny/newyorkstatecoalitionopposedtofluoridation/_pgg5.php3
19) Pediatric Dentists Accused of Selling Out to Coke. CSPI [Center for Science in the Public Interest] Urges AAPD to Put Kids’ Teeth Ahead of Coke’s Money. March 2003 http://www.cspinet.org/new/200303041.html
20) http://www.register-pajaronian.com/main.php?story_id=2700&page=2
http://groups.google.com/group/Fluoridation-News-Releases
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