Means of survival, not greed (From Western Telegraph)

Means of survival, not greed

Dear Editor, - Having read your Comment (August 13th), I feel I must write in my capacity as principal of a busy, mostly NHS dental practice.

NHS dentists are not Government funded; the principal has to pay the mortgage, staff wages, utility bills, purchase equipment, materials, laboratory bills, removal of clinical and radiographic waste. Dentists are self-employed and as I am an NHS dentist I am not entitled to any grant or sickness pay from the NHS.

It is not the dentists that remove patients from the register but the Government. Most dentists were happy to see patients whether registered or not but the new contract instigated in 1990 by the Government necessitated registration.

As a NHS dentist I see approximately 30 patients a day. In the evening I also have paperwork to complete. We also have to provide an out-of hours on-call service for which we are not paid. If a NHS dentist is called out he or she will get paid a minimal amount. The profit from dentistry has reduced considerably over the years due to reduced fees, increased laboratory bills and increased cost of living.

The Comment claims that private dentists earn £75 an hour. As an NHS dentist I need to earn £60 an hour to pay for the aforementioned overheads, therefore a small proportion of this is profit that goes into my wallet, not quite the Prime Minister's wages! If a patient fails to attend for a dental appointment I receive no money.

Patients have a right to NHS dental treatment and therefore I have to date been a committed NHS dentist. Up until the last two years we have never turned away a patient in pain, registered or not, but circumstances have altered so much that we have no free time to deal with the extra work load. This is exacerbated by the fact that there are no new incoming dentists to the area to replace retiring dentists.

The pressure on dentists is now so great, I can see private practice becoming the norm. Hopefully this explains that private dentistry is becoming a means of survival and not greed.

CATRIN OWEN BDS Vergam Dental Practice 6 Vergam Terrace, Fishguard.