8% of Adults Have Tried Home Dentistry
Suggestions that it is impossible to find a dentist these days seem to be true, according to results of a new study by Which?
According to this study, 8% of people have tried to perform some kind of dental procedure at home. Of those who admitted to attempting home dentistry, the most popular choice, with 30% of the overall total, was home bleaching using domestic cleaning products. 26% took a more brutal approach of using pliers to try and remove a tooth (a further 12% favoured the string tied to a door handle method).
Other popular practices included using a pin to burst an ulcer, which was favoured by 19%, or the 11% who had used glue to fix a crown, or filling. Another 6% had tackled the same problem using chewing gum, whilst 8% of home dentists had tried to fix or adjust their dentures at home.
In addition to this, a further 8% of the people Which? surveyed stated that they knew someone else who had tried some kind of dentist work at home.
Which? is a company that focus on consumer issues, and they have recently started a campaign to investigate the troubles that exist in modern day dentistry. As part of their campaign, Which? carried out a study of 2,631 adults in England, during the start of 2009.
The results of the study reinforce concerns about how difficult it is to access dental care in the United Kingdom. The campaign organised by Which? is in addition to the independent review of NHS Dentistry in England, commissioned by the government earlier this year.
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