07-Dec-2003, 02:07 PM
William, no - dentists are all for fluoride added to the water supply. There will still be plenty of work! The North-West has an appalling dental health record - only deprived parts of Scotland have a higher decay rate than the area I work in. BTW, you will not be struck off an NHS dentist's list if you miss a 6 monthly check up - you are registered with that dentist so long as you attend at least every 15 months - but that only applies to the NHS, not private dentists.
Frank, as far as I know (having spent over 20 years in public health dentistry) the only area in the North West to have fluoridated water is the Leighton area of Crewe. It is added to water, rather than foods, because it's the most cost effective method. Fluoride toothpastes reduce decay by about 25%, but fluoridated water reduces it by 50%. My worry would be that modern children don't actually seem to consume much tap water, living off cola and Sunny D instead. Fluoride would not be added to bottled water - much of it is spring water and cannot have chemical additions or would not be "pure from the source" - however, one or two have quite high natural levels of fluoride anyway.
As to dentists repairing children's teeth, the NHS fee for restoring deciduous teeth is so paltry that more than a few dentists don't bother. Supervised neglect, it's called. I see the results when I do school screening - then we get the irate mothers calling in to ask why little Johnny got a letter when he was only at their own dentist a fortnight earlier and he never said anything about any decayed teeth. [V] Bravo to any NHS dentist who is repairing decayed deciduous teeth as the current fee doesn't cover the practice running costs, let alone give the dentist any profit. Luckily I am salaried, so I have the luxury of providing the treatment needed without worrying whether it will put me in the red!
My department sees over 30 children every week for general anaesthetic (a major and potentially life-threatening experience) and extraction of an average of 5 or 6 teeth a piece. Bring on the fluoride, I say!
Frank, as far as I know (having spent over 20 years in public health dentistry) the only area in the North West to have fluoridated water is the Leighton area of Crewe. It is added to water, rather than foods, because it's the most cost effective method. Fluoride toothpastes reduce decay by about 25%, but fluoridated water reduces it by 50%. My worry would be that modern children don't actually seem to consume much tap water, living off cola and Sunny D instead. Fluoride would not be added to bottled water - much of it is spring water and cannot have chemical additions or would not be "pure from the source" - however, one or two have quite high natural levels of fluoride anyway.
As to dentists repairing children's teeth, the NHS fee for restoring deciduous teeth is so paltry that more than a few dentists don't bother. Supervised neglect, it's called. I see the results when I do school screening - then we get the irate mothers calling in to ask why little Johnny got a letter when he was only at their own dentist a fortnight earlier and he never said anything about any decayed teeth. [V] Bravo to any NHS dentist who is repairing decayed deciduous teeth as the current fee doesn't cover the practice running costs, let alone give the dentist any profit. Luckily I am salaried, so I have the luxury of providing the treatment needed without worrying whether it will put me in the red!
My department sees over 30 children every week for general anaesthetic (a major and potentially life-threatening experience) and extraction of an average of 5 or 6 teeth a piece. Bring on the fluoride, I say!