Leader: Real pain when patients become customers

NOT going to the dentist, it seems, can be painful… for dentists at least.

Recession and patients deciding they cannot bear the pain on their wallets caused by dentistry bills is one of the factors being blamed for a drop in dentists’ incomes of about 7 per cent in 2009-10, though latest figures show the average self-employed dentist is likely to earn nearly £80,000 a year.

However, the drop brings into focus the fact that although dentistry is part of the NHS, unlike medical care, it is no longer free to all at the point of delivery, regardless of income. Nearly all forms of treatments, even those offered by NHS dentists, carry some sort of charge. And as such, dentistry has become subject to the laws of the market, a lesson worth bearing in mind should it ever be proposed that payments for NHS medical treatment would be a good idea.

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When dental patients, who now must be regarded also as customers, suffer reduced incomes, they feel unable to afford various expenditures. And since visiting the dentist is never regarded as a joy, it isn’t surprising that the reduction in their incomes has been quite sharp.

Given dentists’ incomes are way above average incomes, there may not be much sympathy for them. But whether they think of themselves as dental patients or customers, people should not crow. Putting off minor treatments today will mean that major dental surgery will probably be needed tomorrow. And that will also probably turn out to be painful… more on the wallet than in the teeth.

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