Pulling your teeth with pliers, why not?

wind2000 · Oct 17, 2007

Some Britons pulling their own teeth: study
Updated Tue. Oct. 16 2007 3:27 PM ET

The Associated Press

LONDON -- A shortage of National Health Service dentists in England has led some people to pull out their own teeth -- or use super glue to stick crowns back on, a study says.

Many dentists abandoned Britain's publicly funded health care system after reforms backfired, leaving a growing number of Britons without access to affordable care.

"I was not surprised to hear those horror stories," said Celestine Bridgeman, 41, of London. "Trying to find good NHS dentists is like trying to hit the lottery because the service is underfunded."

The National Health Service provides care to the vast majority of Britain's people, often for free. Unlike doctors who work for the health service, dentists work on a contract basis and can leave whenever they wish.

Though private treatment by dentists is available, the tradition of publicly funded care means most people rely on it. But now there are fewer dentists to see patients.

In April 2006, the government reformed National Health Service dentistry in an effort to increase patients' access to treatment and to simplify payments. Dentists objected, complaining it reduced income. Some dentists cut the number of health service patients -- or stopped taking them altogether.

Forty-five per cent of dentists surveyed said they no longer accept National Health Service patients.

"This survey underlines the significant problems caused by both dentists and patients by the new dental contract," said Susie Sanderson, executive board chairwoman of the British Dental Association, a trade union of thousands of dentists.

"The picture it paints, of patients unable to access care ... and anxieties about the new charging system, is an all too familiar one," she said.

The study released Monday by the commission contained no figures detailing the National Health Service dental shortage. But earlier this year, then-Health Minister Rosie Winterton told Parliament more than 2 million people were unable to find an NHS dentist.

The survey of 5,212 patients and 750 dentists in England found 6 per cent of patients resorted to self-treatment, including one person who extracted 14 of his teeth with pliers. Other patients reported using super glue on crowns after they popped off, the study said.

"These findings indicate that the NHS dental system is letting many patients down very badly," said Sharon Grant, chairman of the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, the independent body that commissioned the study.

The survey found nearly 20 per cent of patients have gone without dental treatment because of the cost. Thirty-five per cent of those not now using dental services said they cannot find an NHS dentist near where they live.

"It felt like being put on the streets when my NHS dentist changed to private," the survey quoted one unidentified patient as saying.

Seventy-eight per cent of private dental patients left the National Health Service because their dentist stopped treating NHS patients or they could not find an NHS dentist, the study said. Only 15 per cent claimed they switched to get better treatment.

Edward Leigh, 37, an IT consultant from London, said the government should reconsider its reform.

"The few wild stories are probably untypical, but there is a clear problem with the way the contracts of the dentists have been handled," he said.
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http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...1016/English_teeth_071016/20071016?hub=Health

Those ppl must be really desperate to the point of performing those actions. -mellow

[N] · Oct 17, 2007

lol lucky i don't have to go through that again until i get old or something but i use to let my teeth fallout by itself back then lol, pull out your own teeth with pliers, that's gotta hurt...

hiake · Oct 17, 2007

It's too bad they've got a two-tier system. Another proof that two-tier system put poorer pollution in a hard place... <_<

Knoctur_nal · Oct 17, 2007

a hell of an effective method.

turbobenx · Oct 19, 2007

ouch! two words..... THAT HURTS

asiangang · Oct 19, 2007

my grandma use to tie my tooth with a string really tightly and just PULL as hard as she can...ughh...can still remember the pain...

BigM · Oct 19, 2007

^^ Ouch!!

Well desperate times lead to desperate measures I guess

Phoenix · Oct 19, 2007

asiangang said: ↑

my grandma use to tie my tooth with a string really tightly and just PULL as hard as she can...ughh...can still remember the pain...
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me too me too...lol..but it was my mummy that done it...

tree · Oct 19, 2007

yepyep i remember that too.. only my mother tied the string to the refigerator door then slammed it..gahh horible experience... =S

ProjectD · Oct 19, 2007

lol i remember those damn pliers hurt so much even when they give you the numb stuff

Phoenix · Oct 19, 2007

i still remember that chek chek noise of my teeth grinding against the pliers when the dentist used them to take ut my molars...hurt bare like...but i got about £2 for that teeth from the toothfairy lol...

xmichelly · Oct 20, 2007

whoa I've never done the door thing
I've always just waited until it was hella loose and it practically falls out

Pulling your teeth with pliers, why not?

wind2000 Self Schemata

[N] RATED [ ]

hiake Vardøgr of da E.Twin

Knoctur_nal |Force 10 from Navarone|

turbobenx .........

asiangang Well-Known Member

BigM Well-Known Member

Phoenix ~Though she be but little, she is fierce~

tree Well-Known Member

ProjectD VIP yay :]

Phoenix ~Though she be but little, she is fierce~

xmichelly Well-Known Member

Pulling your teeth with pliers, why not?

wind2000 Self Schemata

[N] RATED [ ]

hiake Vardøgr of da E.Twin

Knoctur_nal |Force 10 from Navarone|

turbobenx .........

asiangang Well-Known Member

BigM Well-Known Member

Phoenix *~Though she be but little, she is fierce~*

tree Well-Known Member

ProjectD VIP yay :]

Phoenix *~Though she be but little, she is fierce~*

xmichelly Well-Known Member

Phoenix ~Though she be but little, she is fierce~

Phoenix ~Though she be but little, she is fierce~