CAN YOU DIY PROBLEM TEETH?
Affordable dental treatment is
now out of reach for most people in the UK so many more of us are turning to
DIY options for oral care. While there are many dental products available in
store and online, we strongly suggest you take advice, even a pharmacist can
assist you in choosing properly licensed products so do your research and
follow the guidelines below on staying safe.
NHS patients are desperate
for treatment
Last month the BBC contacted almost every
NHS dental practice in the UK and found that 9 out of 10 were not prepared
to take on new customers, leaving those people to either fork out for expensive
Private treatment or suffer in silence. With that in mind, it’s no wonder people
are turning to questionable TikTok tutorials, booking dental tourism trips to
countries with cheap but potentially sketchy dentists and even pulling their
own teeth with the help of household pliers and a swig of vodka!
Why won’t dentists take on
NHS patients?
NHS practices are given annual
contracts for a set quota of Units of Dental Treatment (UDAs), they could earn
1 UDA for a check-up or all the way up to 12 for a denture. The UDA value pays for
the dentist, nurses, equipment, materials, rent, etc… but once they’ve
completed their annual quota they won’t get paid for any further NHS work so if
your dentist is fully booked, any additional NHS work they do is being paid out
of their own pocket, this means any further slots will only be available to
Private paying patients.
Availability of NHS
dentistry is getting worse
Dentists are increasingly
unhappy with this situation and each year more of them leave the NHS to work
privately with no quotas. Unfortunately, this creates a vicious cycle for
long-suffering patients as the number of NHS dentists shrinks year by year.
Which dental treatments are
safe to do at home
Obviously big treatments like
extractions, infections and emerging wisdom teeth should be left to the experts
but there are some things you can safely treat at home if you can’t reach the
dentist. After seeking advice from a reputable source like your local
pharmacist, here as some things you can treat yourself with properly licensed home-use
products:
Replacing a lost filling
with Tooth-Fil
Replacing a dental crown with
Refit
Removing dental stains with
Smile
Repairing a denture with
Superfix
Identifying hidden
plaque with Disclosing Tablets
Prevention is better than
the cure
Any dentist will tell you, the
first line of defence against dental decay is your daily oral care routine so
you should make using top-tier daily cleaning products like Dr
Denti Toothpaste Tablets & Mouthwash your biggest
priority.
Our Dr Denti Toothpaste
tablets offer best in class cleaning with granules that work into gaps between
the teeth and gums before fizzing up due with their unique micro-bubble formula.
The great tasting foam makes brushing fun and easy while containing plenty of
fluoride to fight decay, plus they’re great
for the environment too so your conscience can stay as clean as your teeth!
For more information on our home use range just email us on info@gapdental.com or call our office on 01474 560 618.