Dental Tribune United Kingdom Edition

PUBLISHED IN LONDON L ast week Prime Minis- ter David Cameron, (pic- tured), gave his speech on NHS Reforms, arguing that “fundamental changes” were required for the UK to catch up with European health care stand- ards. The general feeling through- out his speech was that without change, children will be poorly educated, patients will be unhap- py with the NHS and public faith in law and order will be crushed. Adding that change should not be “put off any longer” Mr Cameron made it clear that “quietly stand- ing still” was no longer an option. Mr Cameron added that there will be “new powers for GPs, who can join together in consortia, take control of NHS budgets and directly commission services for their patients. “We are spreading choice, saying to any parent or pa- tient: you can choose where your child gets sent to school or where to get treated and we’ll back that decision with state money.” Mr Cameron confronted the fact that although there will be rising pressure on funds, tech- nology and new medicine. “Put another way” Mr Cameron said, “it’s not that we can’t afford to modernise; it’s that we can’t af- ford not to modernise.” There has however been some concern over the proposed changes, one of which we see GPs taking control of commis- sioning care. Commenting on the changes during a BBC interview, the Prime Minister said there was “enthusiasm” among the medical profession for the changes; how- ever, according to other reports, the Royal College of GPs, the British Medical Association and trade unions have insisted that the upheaval is unnecessary. The underlying issue lies with the fact that Britain re- portedly spends £103bn on the NHS and yet it has fallen be- hind other European countries which spend similar amounts on healthcare, so surely some- thing needs to be done instead of pumping more money into a system that obviously doesn’t work to its full potential. Mr Cameron said: “There isn’t a quiet life option because there is so little incentive in the NHS to improve the health of the nation.” On another level, Mr Cam- eron clearly emphasised how the poorer communities cannot es- cape bad GPs and NHS services and a result something needs to be done. Providing power to GPs to give greater choice to patients is just one option to deal with this issue. Mr Cameron aims to “free professionals from top down control and bureaucracy” and most importantly “give choice to the user.” As further reports have sug- gested, this year will be a criti- cal time for the Coalition’s public service reforms, as they begin a process that will modernise pub- lic services, such as health, edu- cation and justice. At this time of writing the Health Bill has yet to be pub- lished; however, what has been described as an “overhaul” of the health service will most- certainly come into practice as Primary Care Trusts will con- tinue to be scrapped, and power and financial control will be handled to GPs. Many have reportedly vol- unteered to pilot the reforms, demonstrating the appetite for change. DT KaVo Primus 1058KaVo Primus 1058KaVo Primus 1058KaVo Primus 1058KaVo Primus 1058KaVo Primus 1058 Best value from Henry Schein Minerva Digital Upgrade Available To find out more, call today on 0870010 20 41 Model shown has some optional extras available at additional cost. UN001-01-11HSEQ KaVo 1058 Ad:Layout 1 18/1/11 13:54 Page 1 January 24-30, 2011 VOL. 1 NO. 02 Baby teeth The parents of a baby boy born with teeth will have to take special care of their son’s mouth to ensure he does not end up needing emergency dentistry work. Joanne and Lee Jones are proud parents of their first child, Oliver James, who shocked every- one at the Rosie Maternity Hospital in Cambridge when he was born with two teeth on December 30th 2010. Mum Joanne said that it was “a complete surprise” to see that Oliver had two teeth when he was born. “They are not little stumps, they are proper teeth. It is not un- known for babies to be born with teeth, but it is extremely rare,” she commented. Ol- iver James will now have to go back to the hospital so staff can keep an eye on his teeth and avoid emer- gency dentistry in the future. Leaf-cutter ants retire Central American leaf-cutter ants “retire” from their cut- ting role when they grow old, switching to carrying when their jaws blunt with age. Leaf-cutter ants start their lives with razor-like jaws, or mandibles, to cut through the leaves they harvest. But as these “wear out”, the in- sects tend to carry the leaves cut by their younger coun- terparts.They are reported in the journal Behaviour Ecol- ogy and Sociobiology. The study discovered that older ants were significantly less efficient at cutting leaves. The researchers, from the University of Oregon and the Oregon State University, supports previous research showing the survival of a leaf-cutter colony depends on the efficiency of its workers. Turn back time As teeth age, they become worn, brittle and discoloured. This is a commonly over- looked and untreated prob- lem with many older adults because they are reluctant to undergo traditional and pain- ful restoration procedures. Nevertheless, non-invasive aesthetic dentistry pioneer Dr Robert Ibsen has devel- oped a cosmetic and struc- tural restoration technique titled the ZERO-PAIN(TM) SmileSimplicity procedure. The SmileSimplicity pro- cedure preserves healthy, natural tooth structure and enables dentists to re- store and strengthen teeth while producing more vi- tal, youthful-looking smiles without a single anaes- thetic injection or removal of sensitive tooth structure. www.dental-tribune.co.uk B2A support Practice Plan covers the cost of B2A employee Over-dentures Dr Anagnostopoulos presents an interesting case Visiting the Family Dental students take aid to Cam- bodian orphans News in Brief Clinical FeatureNewsNews ‘Tastes Like Rain’ New toothpaste dispenser tells weather report page 4 page 7 pages 20-22 page 29 No ‘quiet life’ for Cameron as NHS debate rages on Prime Minister defends NHS reforms, stating ‘we cannot afford not to modernise’, while resistance builds from medical associations