DENTISTS have seen the sales and profit opportunities enjoyed by opticians, linking the captive market of basic national health needs to a strong demand for improving personal appearance at any cost, and it was only a matter of time before they equated these benefits with their own privileged position.
Most people on the streets are walking proud with their designer glasses and shining white smiles at top fashion prices.
The other side of the coin reveals thousands of people hopelessly trying to get NHS dental treatment which they might be able to afford, people extracting their own teeth with pliers (September 28) and pensioners who feel badly let down at being abandoned after a lifetime contribution and support of the service.
Basic needs should be provided, separately and free by NHS local trusts, for children and students, those without earnings and pensioners. Now is the time to press for these changes as budgets and control devolve to local trusts on April 1, 2005.
Use any funding which surely must have been earmarked for these groups, and more if necessary, to right these wrongs.
Extra funding of the private sector will not rectify this shameful situation. It will only ensure regular reoccurrences as the cost of living increases.
Leighton Croft,
York.
Updated: 12:39 Monday, October 04, 2004
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