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 19 July 2008 15:42 BST

GPs doing dentists' work, doctor claims

Friday, 16 May 2008 00:01
GPs are increasingly doing the work of dentists, doctor claims

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Doctors are seeing an increasing number of patients who should be seeing a dentist, a Surrey-based GP has claimed.

Dr Alastair Bint from St Luke's Surgery in Guildford says difficulty in registering with a dentist means people with dental problems are turning to their family doctor.

Earlier this year a survey by Citizens Advice found that over seven million people in England and Wales have not been to a dentist since April 2006.

Nearly one in three respondents said failure to find a dentist to treat them was the reason they had not been to one.

In a letter to the British Medical Journal (BMJ), Dr Bint claims he has seen a 1,600 per cent rise in dental related consultations since 1996.

He made the discovery after calculating all such consultations in 1996 to 1998 and 2006 to 2008.

Despite health minister Ben Bradshaw advising patients who could not get dental treatment to visit their GP, Dr Bint says there is no provision in the NHS contract for general practitioners to be remunerated for dental work.

"My audit results may be a symptom of declining dental availability," Dr Bint writes.

"They also show, once again, how general practitioners are left to pick up work that should be performed by other professionals without adequate remuneration."
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