Government adviser slams patients who neglect oral hygiene
A government adviser has criticised patients who neglect oral hygiene and advised the NHS to refuse treatment for people who do not look after their teeth and continue to damage their oral health by consuming large amounts of sugary foods and drinks.
Professor Jimmy Steele, Professor and Head of the School of Oral Health Services Research at Newcastle University, said that the NHS was wasting time and money providing complex, expensive treatments for patients who refused to improve their standards of oral hygiene. Professor Steele told the Sunday Times that dentists should have the right to refuse giving patients treatments like root canals and crowns to patients who repeatedly neglected their oral hygiene; he claimed that there was no point in offering treatment because the new crown would just rot away in the future.
Professor Steele is currently working on a review of the NHS dentistry contract after restrictions were placed on liver transplants for alcoholic patients and hip replacements for obese patients. While many agree that some form of restriction needs to be introduced, especially in the current economic climate, a universal system that prevents treatment for patients with ‘self-inflicted’ conditions has not gained support.
Professor Steele claims that patients have a responsibility to listen to and adhere to advice and information provided by their dentist; if they follow these instructions they are likely to recover from a procedure quickly and reduce the risk of developing oral health problems in the future but if they don’t follow them, they will probably end up back at the surgery with another dental health problem within a matter of months.
A spokeswoman from the Department of Health claims that a new dentistry contract is under construction according to recommendations in the White Paper. Professor Steele has been researching ways to improve the efficiency and performance of NHS dental services and has been joined by several colleagues to try and spearhead a new programme, which aims to improve oral health across the country. The spokeswoman said that Professor Steele’s recommendations will not necessarily be used but she said the department was delighted that he had agreed to join the advisory team.
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