Dental Problems Update
posted: 07/10/2008
Feedback from the dental consultation event held at George House Trust on 1 October 2008.
As many of you will be aware there have been a lot of complaints about how people living with HIV are treated by dentists.
We recently hosted a consultation event for people living with HIV to find out more about people's experience of dentists.
Some good news came out of the event as a number of people contacted George House Trust and said that they had disclosed their HIV status to their dentist and were very happy with the treatment that they had received. Other people had examples of good practice such as surgeries making it easier for people to disclose.
21 people came along to the dentistry meeting with a good mix of people using all the different George House Trust services.
half the attenders have no dentist
Of the people attending half did not have a dentist. Mostly this was because people had tried unsuccessfully to find a dentist. There was also confusion over charging and private dentistry so some people were worried about being unable to afford treatment.
Different treatment
There were cases of different treatment of people living with HIV. Often people living with HIV seem to be asked to have double appointments for routine work, be asked to come in at the end of the day or be taken off a list for being a few minutes late. Some people were concerned that they had been over charged and that their dentist appeared to be working on piece work and not giving a good service.
We were pleased to have representatives of the PCT at the meeting, Val Bayliss Brideaux from the Engagement Team and Mark Carroll from the Patient and Liaison service (PALS).
What will happen next
- We will continue to speak to the PCTs across the region raising the issues any concerns regarding people with HIV accessing dentists
- PALs tell us that there is capacity among NHS dentists so we will continue to support people accessing dentists
- We will feed in specific complaints about treatment. We will do this in consultation with the person making the complaint to make sure they are happy with the way a complaint is taken forward
- We need your help! Please continue to give us feedback (good and bad) about dentists as we want to publicise the good practice as well as highlight the bad.
Please email any examples of good or bad practice to Lynda Shentall Director of Services
Thanks to those who came for the event, thanks to the PCT for helping with the costs on the day.
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