Dental crisis needs resolving now as costs rise from £60 to £1,700 – The Yorkshire Post says

As his watchdog says, access to NHS dental services was already a lottery before the pandemic struck. Now evidence points to a growing meltdown with reports of patients having to pay up to £1,700 for treatment that would have cost £60 previously.

Now this is not to criticise dentists. They have maintained an emergency service throughout the national lockdowns, but far more resources – both human and financial – are having to be devoted to effectively deep-cleaning surgeries after each treatment because the nature of their work means that the risk of Covid is so much greater.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the Covid vaccine rollout programme will improve matters in the near future, but what is certain is that the Department of Health should be working with dentists now on devising measures that will enable more patients to receive oral care before tooth decay becomes more difficult and costly to treat.

As such, it is disappointing to learn that talks between Health Secretary Matt Hancock’s department and the dental profession have broken down when it is also being reported that patients will have to wait two years for what used to be a six-monthly check-up. Now is the time to be putting historic disputes to one side and working together on a way forward – it is also what patients deserve and expect.

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