NHS dental changes "force patients to go private"

By Tim Castle

LONDON (Reuters) - Dental patients are being forced to go private, prompting many to go without treatment or even fix their teeth at home because of NHS changes last year, according to a survey.

A quarter of 5,200 patients polled across England said they had gone private but nearly 80 percent of that quarter said that was only because their dentist had stopped treating NHS patients or because they could not find an NHS dentist.

Another 10 percent were not registered with any dental surgery while six percent of patients said they had taken matters into their own hands.

One respondent from Lancashire told the survey: "Fourteen teeth have had to be removed by myself with pliers."

Another had temporarily fixed a broken crown with superglue.

The survey, conducted between July and September, also questioned 750 dentists, of whom 45 percent said they were not accepting any more NHS patients.

More than half of the dentists (58 percent) said the quality of care received by patients had got worse since the new contract came into force in April last year.

"These findings indicated that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly," said Sharon Grant, Chair of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, which organised the survey.