NHS Dentists

Finding a NHS dentist is becoming harder and harder.

Both here in Kingston and across much of the country, NHS dentists have become a rare species. Even rarer is a NHS dentist who can take on more NHS patients. One local NHS dentist often gets over 10 enquiries a day, but his lists are already full.

Of course, this has not suddenly happened. The current Government inherited the problem, but they did promise to tackle it. Yet the number of patients registered with a NHS dentist has been flat for the last five years - with the number of children registered even falling slightly.

So now we have a situation where three in five adults and two in five children are not registered.

For those of us who can pay large dental bills, that may not be a problem. However, there are many living in Kingston who struggle. Some inevitably end up not going - until their teeth have got so bad, they have no other option.

When the health service is supposed to be focusing more on prevention, this is not good news. It was bad enough when free dental check ups were abolished, but now we face the possibility of new guidance that six monthly check ups are not needed.

Well, if we don't need check ups any longer, presumably the shortage of NHS dentists will go away!! You can despair at times.

Sign the petition on the Kingston Borough Liberal Democrats website.