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Michael Watson discusses the way children’s teeth have been portrayed recently in the media. Last week dentistry hit the headlines starting with the Sunday Times headline: ‘Rotten teeth in toddlers at crisis level.’ The crisis is well known to dental teams, namely that almost 26,000 general anaesthetics are given to five-nine-year-old children for dental extractions, … Continued
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Michael Watson reports from the Westminster Health Forum in his latest blog. Once a year I am sent an invitation to the Westminster Health Forum, which runs a seminar on dentistry. The forum is a place where policymakers in Parliament, Whitehall and government agencies can listen to key people within the dental world and discuss … Continued
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Michael Watson highlights how dentists’ training has changed over the years and how it may need to change in the future. What do dentists do? That wasn’t the title of last week’s BDA anniversary lecture by Professor Jimmy Steele, but it was a theme that ran throughout. Like every good lecturer it was not only … Continued
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The PSA has concerns over the performance of the GDC in its annual report on the regulators it oversees. The Professional Standards Authority (PSA) sets 24 Standards of Good Regulation and found that all its regulators performed at least ‘adequately’ against ‘most’ of these standards. But it has concerns that some of its regulators (including … Continued
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Michael Watson responds to Which? claims that NHS dentists are not offering NHS appointments. Its undercover researchers called 500 dental surgeries advertising on the Government’s official website, NHS Choices, as accepting new NHS patients to see if they could book an appointment. They found that three in 10 (31%) practices said ‘no’ because they didn’t have availability. Of … Continued
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Last week I paid a visit to the town where I was born and brought up, Caterham in Surrey. It was not just a nostalgic trip, but to hear tribute paid to the founder of modern dentistry, Sir John Tomes, who is buried there. It is 200 years since his birth and the ceremony marked … Continued
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It was said of King Charles II that he ‘never said a foolish thing, nor ever did a wise one’. Too true the King replied: ‘For my words are my own, and my actions are my ministers’.’ I thought of that as I watched the state opening of parliament, but now, 350 years later, the … Continued
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‘Patients (are) sometimes being offered treatments that have only minor benefit.’ We hear that doctors have been told to stop doing pointless treatments and tell patients that doing nothing can often be the best approach. Patients often expect their GPs to give them a prescription or refer them for an operation, rather than being told … Continued
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For those of us who follow the comings and goings of the ‘Westminster Village’, the making of a new (all Tory) government team merited some attention. The early announcement that Jeremy Hunt was to be in charge again and with only one Lib Dem minister to be replaced it looked like ‘business as usual’. The … Continued
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Following last week’s general election, the new team at the Department of Health has been announced; all are Conservatives. The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP (south west Surrey) continues as secretary of state for health. Alistair Burt MP (north east Bedfordshire) is the new minister of state (care and support) at the Department of Health. … Continued
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Last week’s general election gave the country its first all-Conservative government for 18 years, so what can we expect? The consensus of opinion at the BDA Conference was, as far as dentistry is concerned, not a lot. There is some validity in this view as the minister responsible for dentistry (Lord Howe) was a conservative, … Continued
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When NHS England announced the appointment of Sara Hurley as chief dental officer (CDO), it ended weeks of speculation, some well-informed, much not so. As a former dental officer in the Royal Army Dental Corps, I am probably biased in welcoming the current head of the Army Dental Service to her new appointment. However, her … Continued
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I read Kevin Lewis’ blog last week on the Dentistry website about the permutations of the Government in the event of a hung parliament. I also saw the British Dental Association’s (BDA’s) expression of regret that none of the manifestos of the major parties mentioned dentistry. This will be the 14th general election at which I … Continued
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To work in the NHS as a dentist you need to have been on a performer’s list. To be admitted to this list, you need to be a dentist qualified in the European Economic Area (EEA) or to have completed dental foundation training (DFT) if you trained in the UK. Having spent a great deal … Continued
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The rather abrupt departure of Barry Cockcroft as chief dental officer (CDO) for England and the delay in announcing his successor raises questions in my mind. Add to this the strong rumour that his successor is not one of the obvious candidates and has no direct experience of working in the NHS and I am … Continued
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Recently two NHS employees were involved in the theft and resale of £75,000 worth of dental equipment, taken from health board properties in Edinburgh. They were jailed for nine months. The items were sold on Ebay and the thefts came to light when a dentist, who had purchased some of the equipment, contacted the manufacturers … Continued
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Recently there has been some more positive news about private dentistry. First the National Association of Specialist Dental Accountants and Lawyers (NASDAL) reported that profit for private practices had edged ahead of those in the NHS for the first time in nearly a decade. The difference was small, with a private dentist making a profit … Continued
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Henrik Overgaard-Nielsen will be the 17th chairman of the General Dental Practice Committee (GDPC) that I have known in the 30 or so years that I have reported about dentistry. I wish him well in what is a most demanding, time consuming and some would say impossible job. He has two new vice-chairmen, Dave Cottam and … Continued
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Last week, whilst the profession and the dental press were busy listening to and digesting the General Dental Council’s appearance before the Health Committee, the Department of Health gave its judgement on general dental practitioners’ pay for the coming year. In case you missed this momentous news, here is the result: dental contracts will rise … Continued
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Illegal teeth whitening seems to crop up almost every week through a press release from the General Dental Council (GDC) about its on-going pursuit of people illegally whitening. I shouldn’t complain really; it must be better for the GDC to pursue illegal whiteners, rather than legal (and often innocent) dentists who happen to have a complaint … Continued
