Toothless in England launched recently - and earlier than planned. The launch was moved forward in response to the level of public support and global media interest in the ‘Toothless in Suffolk’ campaign.
On twitter, the campaign group announced that they “will soon publish a 'How to' guide to setting up a local 'Toothless' campaign group”.
In the meantime, the group have shared a set of six demands, which build on Toothless in Suffolk’s slogan: ‘an NHS dentist for everyone’.
- An NHS dentist for everyone
- Reforms to the NHS dental contract that will encourage dentists to provide NHS treatments
- Revenue to cover the 50 per cent of the population that are unfunded by the government
- NHS dental treatments to be free at the point of use
- People to be prioritised before shareholder dividend - no more privatisation
- An end to the two-tier system - hygienists, routine check-ups and preventative treatments must be a core NHS function
Eddie Crouch, chair of the British Dental Association (BDA) tweeted, "That Toothless in England even needs to exist is a testament to failure by successive governments.
"Access problems are not inevitable, and we will work with them to secure a better deal for patients across the country."
And in response to the BDA’s statement that Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP, misled parliament after he claimed that NHS dental services were benefitting from the NHS 'catch-up' programme, the new campaign group tweeted, “Numerous opportunities to finally address the difficulties faced by patients in need of NHS dentistry have presented themselves over the years, and yet successive governments have repeatedly failed to grasp the nettle. Why?”