Ukrainians who have moved to the UK have highlighted the lack of dentists as among the most astonishing aspects of British life
Ukrainians who have moved to the UK have highlighted the lack of dentists as among the most astonishing aspects of British life
Report on refugees’ experiences says some compare NHS dentistry provision negatively with that in their home country
One woman in her 30s, Boyka, told the researchers: “We don’t have a dentist. It’s crazy. For us, it’s, like, impossible! In Ukraine the dentist industry is huge, you know, everywhere, and because it’s everywhere you just go and it’s like £10, £8, and you can clean it, whiten it like [a] Hollywood smile!
Some British families who have taken in Ukrainian refugees have noted that their guests organise dental appointments during their visits home.
'We have experienced something truly horrific. The city centres have become wastelands. People go hungry and homeless. There's a basic lack of provision of essential services ... How do the British get by like this?'
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20Similarly in Hungary there is a term “dental tourism” because they sell packages with spa resorts so the family can enjoy a holiday while the patient has a full dental transplant put in while in anaesthesia.
9"oh, you're in luck. we just had a cancellation. can you be here at 1130...today?"
'fraid not. it'll take me longer than that just to get out of london
7im very envious of the service my dog gets at the vets. appts the same day and non emergency surgery within days. ive been on an a waiting list for an examination for over 14months now
5I live in a podunk college town in rural Ohio and can get a dentist appointment in about a week at any time. In fact, i had to push it back a week because my new insurance wasn't going to take effect when they suggested a date.
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Wait till you try to get the other healthcare, you're in for a real treat. You can always console yourself with the knowledge that the royal family is never short of anything.
18I feel the "[a]" is passive aggressive.
11Oh, this explains the "British teeth" phenomenon. (Most?) Everywhere else in Europe affordable and fast dental care is a given
9The traditional "british teeth" was the UK's dental industry focussing on healthy rather than pretty.
Nowadays, it's caused by underfunded patient slots at dentists.You can find a private dentist pretty easily, but it's quite hard to get taken on as an NHS patient (which means when you need treatment for something, you're not in the capped NHS bands). Which is especially bad if you're eligible for completely free treatment, as you're blocked by available dentists.
The dentists are generally given funding (or access to funding) for a set amount of NHS patients to make up the difference between NHS capped costs and their true costs. And unfortunately, there often aren't enough slots.
I was lucky with my current dentist that they happened to have slots when I signed up. And a few years later, they let me know when slots were opening so I could add the rest of the household.23I have some dental trauma and that combined with autism meant I was able to push to go to the community special access dentist (or whatever it's called), but I had to really push for that. I wouldn't have been able to find a dentist otherwise
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The UK having such horrendous teeth is a myth
7I mean it doesn't well it didn't anyway until about a decade ago. You used to be able to get a dentist easily enough then austerity happened and look at us now! World leaders in shooting ourselves in the foot.
The British smile is really only a thing because teeth straightening and whitening aren't usually covered by the NHS and nobody cared enough to go private, everyone else has a crooked smile anyway. Your more likely to get bullied for braces than having a tooth out of place.
6Teeth are a luxury bone, you don't need them to work.
6In the future all foods are in the form of a paste.
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Do dentists in other countries have the same sense of prestige as British ones? I used to work with a guy whose wife was a dentist and he constantly talked about being a dentist as being on the same level as a doctor. Said that entry requirements for dentistry at university is the same as medical doctors.
6A true dentist is basically a surgeon.
There's massive rightfully so prestige in that and they are a doctor by title.
But most aren't that. Which is fine, not every dental appointment is a lower jaw line reconstruction. My mother had her entire bone "replaced" from her teeth to the nose line by a dentist. It was long ass surgery. It's fair those people would like more than the "nhs rate" cleaning service.
6I mean, they try. Somewhere here in eastern Europe there's always banter between those two. Dentists wearing the "i save people" mantra and MDs making fun of them for learning 2 teeth each year in school.
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The English ruling class has a very unhealthy admiration for the USA. Unfortunately, a lot in the UK is decided by them.
Imo the only solution would be to change the UK voting system to something less insane (and undemocratic) than the current system. Also, they'd do well to limit the proportion of politicians who were educated in one of their elite schools (even better, do away with those schools altogether)2the only solution would be to change the UK voting system
Well, there's always the.... Cromwellian solution.
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Bri'ish moment
-3Us Americans: >_>
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One of the charities in my country that supports the Ukrainian refugees has highlighted the abuse of the system by people who are not in danger as is evident by their trips home.
I can't help but feel this is the case here.
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