In 1918, my grandfather Luke pulled out his own wisdom tooth with a pair of pliers while fighting in the trenches of Flanders.
My brother and I never really believed this old war story because it got more gruesome every time Grandad told it.
And because we had a great NHS dentist as kids, the idea of having to rip out your own molar felt like medieval barbarity.
Today the prospect of even FINDING an NHS dentist feels more like a utopian fantasy. As Luke’s great-grandson discovered last month when he almost resorted to picking up the pliers. My nephew Adam, who lives in Manchester, was in agony with a tooth abscess and spent three days ringing round scores of dentists in the North West trying to get an NHS appointment.
But the best offer he got was a two-year wait to join a practice in Huddersfield.
In the end his dad paid for him to go private and the infected gnasher was eventually painlessly removed. But across the country millions of people are missing out on care as NHS practitioners are becoming rarer than hens’ teeth.
A quarter of people seeking NHS treatment this year couldn’t find a dentist.
And those who can’t afford to pay are resorting to DIY fillings and extractions.
“Millions have no option,” says Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association. “DIY dentistry has no place in a wealthy 21st century nation. This horror show is the direct result of choices made in Westminster.”
As is the nightmare unfolding across the rest of our crumbling NHS. And the choices made by new Health Secretary Therese Coffey will do nothing to stop the rot.
Her £500million emergency fund won’t touch the sides of the huge cavity in NHS coffers.
League tables to ensure we get GP appointments within a fortnight?
Volunteer first aiders helping out paramedics, “remote monitoring” of patients in their own homes?
These are all cosmetic measures – temporary veneers instead of radical root canal treatment which the NHS needs to smile again.
Millions of people are already paying for private healthcare in this country.
Polls reveal most of us would welcome a tax that was ring-fenced for the NHS or pay to see our GP.
So it’s time for a REAL debate on reforming health services in Britain – and the only wise route is a Royal Commission.
Or in another 104 years’ time getting any kind of medical treatment will be harder than pulling teeth.
