health and wellbeing Dental reflection I
am a dentist working in and around Newquay, Cornwall. In semi- retirement I visit schools to give children check ups. This is how it feels!
Dentistry is the same whether it be in country or town. Teeth decay in an identical way wherever you live. Gum disease can exist anywhere. These two, the commonest dental diseases, are preventable. If there are problems to do with teeth that are only found in the countryside, it’s that old conundrum location, location, location. The dream cottage, or rural family, may be 20 miles from anywhere, and that includes the nearest dentist.
Things continue to change and the dental service is not immune. The former Schools’ Dental Service no longer exists. That involved dentists travelling to schools and inspecting children’s teeth. If treatment was necessary, and it usually was, it was often done in mobile dental clinics – a sort of super-caravan equipped as a surgery, though only a limited amount could be done. So, why has the School Service disappeared? The answer is fluoride tooth paste. (Or in some areas a fluoridated water
supply). I now work in semi- retirement visiting schools checking children’s teeth. If any treatment is needed we drop a note to Mum, who should then arrange an appointment with their own dentist. The result of this magic ingredient is that 80% of children I now see need no treatment whatsoever, a merciful situation for those of us with painful memories! Those that do need treatment need far less compared with the old days.
But if children are largely O.K., what of their Mums and Dads and Grandparents who struggle on with fillings and dentures and all the business of regular visits? Well, clearly fluoride toothpaste helps to keep things under control, but the patient still has to get to a dentist some time, usually in a nearby town. It may not be that simple. One of the major problems for patients, urban as well as rural, is the shortage of NHS dentists. The effect of policies from successive Governments, together with rising costs, combines to force many dentists to leave the NHS. Nor are the proposed changes in funding, due to come into force in 2005, likely to improve the situation.
Treatment needed in the dental surgery
So what role can the local church play? It might be that premises, such as an under-used church room, could be converted to a surgery. That is unlikely to be a widespread solution. Dental surgeries are complicated things requiring extensive plumbing and wiring. The ever mounting cost of equipment and maintenance – the Health and Safety regulations are extremely rigorous – and the modest catchment area of some rural parts, militate against successful branch practices.
A better role for the Church would be to act as a co-ordinator for those who need to go to a dentist. A co- ordinator could find out from the NHS helpline (number in the directory) which dentists will accept patients for either emergency or routine treatment, or which centre has a vacancy in their appointments book. In my area you can usually get an emergency slot the same day.
Then, where transport is needed, the “Church Get-You-There-And-Home- Service”, comes into play! I know that many villagers do a lot of hospital ferrying but a formal and organised church co-ordinator would be a blessing in many places.
And that remote family would still be in the right location!
Trewidland Community Primary School – on Bob’s round 4
www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk Bob Jenkin, Cornwall
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