Dental news

RSS Feed

View by: Most Recent | Most Popular | Most Discussed

Private dentists 'putting patients at risk'

Recommend on Facebook

Share on Twitter

Email this story

Email this story

Message (option)

Share this story

> Other stories

Gift voucher offer with dental journal subscription

Developing your private practice

NHS dentistry ‘improved at expense of quality’

Dental pioneer awarded Fellowship

Private dentists have been accused in Parliament of putting patients at risk with unnecessary operations.

Labour MP for Rhondda Chris Bryant said many private providers were encouraging patients to have procedures they 'certainly do not need' and urged government to include dentists in any investigations into private sector cosmetic surgery.

'Will the Secretary of State add laser surgery clinics to his list, and also private dentists, many of which are encouraging patients to undergo operations they certainly do not need?'

Health secretary Andrew Lansley has asked the medical director of the NHS, Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, to convene an expert group to look at the future regulation of the cosmetic service industry following the PIP breast implant scandal where implants were filled with non-medical grade
silicone intended for use in mattresses.

Mr Lansley said: 'I think their ability to meet their liabilities towards their patients should be one of the issues we look at.'

And Mr Bryant said dentists must not escape scrutiny.

Speaking in a debate on the PIP breast implants, Mr Bryant said: 'May I suggest to the Secretary of State that the problems in the cosmetic intervention industry may be far more extensive than we have known thus far? A few years ago, I had my eyes lasered. I visited five clinics, four
of which seemed to be trying to sell me an intervention rather than trying to do anything that would be in my general health interest. Will the Secretary of State add laser surgery clinics to his list, and also private dentists, many of which are encouraging patients to undergo operations
that they certainly do not need?"

Mr Lansley replied: "I will reserve my position on dentistry, because there is a very wide range and cosmetic intervention constitutes a substantial proportion of overall dentistry activity, but I will happily consider whether there is an issue to be dealt with.'

Other MPs said if firms are not indemnified against the risk of surgery or willing to accept  responsibility they should not be allowed to practise.

Mr Lansley added: 'The position we have inherited is that I have no powers in relation to the provision of private health care by private companies. The Heath and Social Care Bill provides for the establishment of Monitor as health sector regulator that will license such providers. I am not
making any judgement at this point on whether it would be appropriate for conditions to be attached to such licences in relation to the continuity of service to patients, but it is one option that we can consider.'

The British Dental Association said it supported the patients' right to choose.

A spokesperson for the BDA said: 'Dentists provide a wide range of NHS and private care. While the NHS provides what is clinically necessary, patients can access a wider range of procedures and treatment options in the private sector.

'These can include aesthetic treatments such as whitening, choices such as different types of crown and filling materials, and greater flexibility about appointments. Dentists working in the private sector are also free of the constraints of the UDA system, which means they can spend more
time with patients.

'The BDA supports dentists in providing a full range of treatments and patients' right to choose in which sector they receive care. Treatment decisions should be made by dentists and patients together. The availability of private care extends patient choice, which the BDA supports.'

In the UK, private cosmetic companies have been urged to remove implants they fitted - however, some have said it would be unaffordable and have blamed a failure of regulation.

Rate this story

Anyone else like to have a kick at dentistry? You know - while you`re here.

Posted by Andrew Adey 19/1/12 at 17:05

Amazing research into the private dentistry sector by MP Chris Bryant,

"A few years ago, I had my eyes lasered. I visited five clinics, four
of which seemed to be trying to sell me an intervention rather than trying to do anything that would be in my general health interest....and also private dentists"

Amazing how Mr Bryant basis his opinion abouth private dentistry after visiting 5 laser eye clinics. You couldn't really make it up...maybe he should first look into his own accounting expenses....that's the real scandal.

Posted by wleedhaq 19/1/12 at 17:08

Only read as far as ''Labour MP' His 'opinions' can thus be immediately discounted as utter garbage.

Posted by docholliday 19/1/12 at 18:00

This f****** idiot can get out of the isolated, artificial world of London Parliamentary privilege and get his useless ass down to my surgery and see the reality and talk to patients. Then I'll hit him!
Another useless chancer hoping to enhance his reputation via soundbite.
Suggest we all write to him demanding supportive evidence. Spiteful t***!

Posted by rob_bate 19/1/12 at 20:44

.....and Bryant's useless lot introduced the UDA farce. Maybe he thinks the UDA factories are working 'in his general health interest'? He's sadly deluded if he does think this!

Posted by docholliday 19/1/12 at 20:55

Maybe the Eye surgeon slipped a bit and had a part of his brain (Not necessarily a big part) "lasered" as well !

Posted by Expat 19/1/12 at 21:07

If his donkey is that useless, he probably would not be able to get to walk to your surgery Rob. But seriously, MPs in general are totally ignorant of the situation. I actually spoke to an MP who genuinely thought that all NHS dental treatment was free. When I told him about patients' charges he said " My wife has NHS treatment and she has never had to pay. " I was told later by a colleague that rumour had it that she had a dental friend in one of the hospitals, who treated her out of hours.
Somehow we have to get the message through to our own MPs. It does not help when the BDA states that all necessary treatment is available on the NHS. Tell me where. My friends and I need some.
I see there was another TV programme about a dentist who stole £300,000 from the NHS. I notice it is always 'dentist' and never dental surgeon. I always describe myself as an orthodontist, which has very rarely brought on a hostile reaction. Whereas when I am introduced to someone as a 'dentist'...

Posted by Martin Rooke-Matthews 21/1/12 at 08:05