I went to the dentist today, it’s not something I usually mind too much, but as with everything, times have changed. Now we need to pay for our dentistry, and I tell you what, it isn’t cheap! I’m fortunate that at the moment, I can afford to have the basics – checkups, cleaning etc, but goodness knows if I have to have any treatment. Look at this article in our local newspaper, The Mercury:
– and this one also from the Mercury where our local MP, who is a Conservative MP in the Conservative government about which everyone has their own opinion:
So many people and their children, can no longer afford even the most basic of professional dental care, are suffering with tooth pain, are losing teeth, it’s shocking.
When I was at school, back in the dark ages, there was a school dental service and for some reason the surgery was at our school. We all used to line up for check-ups, and if a child needed treatment they had it and to cheer them up the nurse made a little baby from a cotton wool plug, with a gauze square wrapped round it, and a little smiley face drawn on it. As a family we went to a dentist who had been my dad’s dentist when he was a boy (when dad was a boy, not the dentist – obviously!) and my sister and I were taken for regular check ups.
Through my childhood these visits continued; we moved to teh west country and found another excellent dentist, a little severe, but he provided good care. I think even when I went away to college I had a check up when I came home in the holidays. I continued to live in Manchester once I’d finished my education, and found a fantastic dentist who I saw as often as necessary. I did have a few fillings, and two crowns, but all was well. Many years later, when I had children, they too visited the same fantastic dentist. We moved back to the west country and found dental care, and all continued as it had for many years.
Obviously, being an older person, who has certainly done a lot of chomping over the years, I have begun to have more difficulties – and this has coincided with an unwelcome hike in the prices of dental care – even the most basic. There will come a time when it may be difficult to afford the treatment I may need but I am lucky – for so many people any treatment is beyond them.
Grrrrrr!
Lois Elsden 
Fantastic, so glad for you!
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Thank you very much! x
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