More than 100 British family dentists have signed a letter complaining about the "compromised and mismanaged" National Health Service (NHS) system of state-funded dental treatment in England.
NHS dentistry is "unfit for purpose" as the result of government program, which the dentists claim do not allow professionals to spend enough time with patients, according to a telegraph.com story.
The dentists sent a letter to the Telegraph complaining about "continuous limitations and compromises" that hamper their work, making it impossible to deliver the high standards of care to the population promised by the government. The letter also noted that caries is the third most common reason for children to be admitted to a hospital and that nearly half of all adults suffer from serious periodontal problems.
The dentists accused the government of manipulating statistics that hide the "rotten truth," such as dumbing-down how caries is measured and reported. Using "visible" eyesight alone misses hidden caries that can be detected by modern methods such as x-rays, the dentists wrote.
