Jimu journalist Sun Zhe
I used pliers to pull out the blackened rotten teeth, and even used resin materials and super glue to make dentures... This is not a movie sequence, but a real thing that happened in Britain. According to the British "Daily Mail" report, recently, the country released an investigation report showing that the British National Health Service (NHS), which symbolizes the British welfare system, is in crisis. In the past year, a quarter of Britons who have been in the NHS Hospital Dental Row have failed to make an appointment, and even one in five have chosen to do it themselves to solve dental problems.
Screenshot of the relevant report (Source: Daily Mail)
Nearly a third of Britons are 'completely dead hearted' to dentists in public hospitals
It is understood that the British dental clinics are mainly divided into two categories, one is the above-mentioned clinics contracted with the NHS, because the NHS is a public medical system, so these clinics have government subsidies, the fees are relatively low, but the waiting time for medical treatment is longer; The other category is private clinics, which can be quickly visited, but the fees are relatively high. Most patients generally choose the former for consultation.
According to the investigation report released by the British opposition Liberal Democratic Party a few days ago, the dentistry of NHS hospitals is in the dilemma of "appointment drought".
NHS Hospital Dentistry has been in crisis for years, but things have gotten worse since the outbreak. The survey report mentioned that nearly a third of the British people are "completely dead" to dentists in these hospitals.
Danielle Watts, 42, is one of them. Because the waiting time was so long, the mother of two was forced to do it herself, pulling out 10 teeth.
Danielle Watts Infographic (Image: Daily Mail)
It is understood that Watts has been plagued by gingivitis for many years. She told reporters that her gum disease was so severe that since last year, her teeth have "loosened one by one."
To make matters worse, Watts could barely find a dentist in a public hospital to see him. Watts has been calling other clinics nearby for consultations since the sudden closure of a clinic she used to visit with the NHS contracted out, but according to her, no dentist is willing to accept "new patients" anymore, so she has no choice but to do it herself.
"Those teeth have reached the point where they pop out when squeezed and squeezed, and I have to take painkillers every day. After taking medicine to go to work and come back to take care of the kids, my teeth made me lose confidence and I now hate talking to people, even people I know. Watts said.
Forced to "tear teeth off" with forceps
Carlton Hill, from Swansea, the second largest city in Wales, shared with reporters his experience of extracting teeth with pliers.
The 28-year-old said that in 2020, one of his molars broke, resulting in a broken crown and leaving only the root of the tooth, but due to the epidemic, he has not been able to make an appointment with a dentist. In desperation, Hill could only "tear the tooth off" with pliers.
"Although I 'stabilized' the situation at the time, there was still some pain, I called the NHS clinic for help, but they told me that my condition was not serious enough to need to be referred to the emergency department, and all they could do was relieve the pain, not remove the stump." Hill said.
Screenshot of Hill's interview with the media (Source: Daily Mail)
Liberal Democrat spokeswoman Daisy Cooper said after the report was released that the situation was now a "national scandal".
"People are forced to extract their own teeth because of a shortage of funding for our public health services, which is a national scandal." Cooper said.
Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats have also called on the UK government to come up with a "winter relief package" that includes recruiting more NHS dentists.
According to previous reports in British media, during the epidemic, a large number of dentists resigned from public hospitals and turned to private clinics; Recent industry polls have also shown that many dentists are considering opening their own private clinics, which further exacerbates the "dental crisis".
Earlier this month, Britain's new health secretary, Theresa Coffey, made "doctors and dentists" a priority issue that needs to be addressed. The current number of dentists in the NHS is the lowest in 10 years, with 3,000 dentists resigning from public hospitals since March 2020.
In response, Eddie Crouch, president of the British Dental Association, said that in order to avoid a "horror show" in which the Victorian people took matters into their own hands, government ministers must provide more support and increase investment before public services can return to normal.
(Source: Jimu News)
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