Better than pulling teeth
Updated on 15 October 2007
Inside the morning news meeting...
It's simply called 'Dentist' in the prospects list and the summary reads thus: "Lack of NHS dentists means many go w/out treatment and even pull their own teeth, acc to largest ever survey."
Pull their own teeth?
"It's a great top line," concedes today's programme editor, "but I'd like to know how many really do it."
Well, the Patient and Public Involvement Forum - the body that covers every NHS trust in England and which carried out the survey - doesn't say exactly.
We know from the results that 300 of the 5,000 questioned confessed to a bit of self-dentistry - and that one interviewee in Lancashire admitted to 14 separate confrontations with a pair of pliers.
But the 300 doesn't just include self-extractions - some had glued crowns back in place, for example. Equally bizarre but not quite as headline grabbing.
Either way, the survey does bring to bear some misconceptions about the state of NHS dentistry and our rights as patients, if the drift of the newsroom conversation is anything to go by.
How bad is the shortage of NHS dentists? What's causing it? What can you expect to pay when you find one?
Just three of the questions posed during the meeting. Those and more to be addressed later by Victoria MacDonald in a piece that'll be more enjoyable that a stint in a reclining chair with the man with the white latex gloves.
And that's guaranteed.
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