The National Health Service
1948 1948 1940s 38 pages dental fitness. Any dentist who feels he has not the facilities or experience to treat a patient with some unusual condition has the duty of putting him in touch with another dentist or with a hospital. A patient who wants certain kinds of 'extra', such as...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : His Majesty's Stationery Office
1948
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/060BEF93-F0DE-403F-9AB2-7B9F1D207DAF http://hdl.handle.net/10796/0FA5F3C4-6606-4042-B5AA-06A6EB7B4C09 |
| Summary: | 1948
1948
1940s
38 pages
dental fitness. Any dentist who feels he has not the facilities or experience to treat a patient with some unusual condition has the duty of putting him in touch with another dentist or with a hospital. A patient who wants certain kinds of 'extra', such as a gold filling instead of an ordinary one, will be expected to pay the extra cost if it is not clinically necessary. If the dentist thinks the patient needs one of a specified list of medicines, he can give him a prescription to be dispensed by a chemist. In the old health insurance scheme the dentist was allowed to do little to a patient's teeth without first sending in an estimate for approval by lay authorities. In the new Service little, if any, outside control is needed when dentists are working in clinics or health centres. But when they are working individually in their own separate surgeries, some control must be continued in the early years. In 1946 the British Dental Association * suggested the rule with which to begin the new service: that the dentist should be free to conserve teeth without any prior approval, but should get permission before removing teeth (except in emergency) which have to be replaced by dentures. The Service frees from outside control probably rather less than half the work dentists have hitherto been doing, and at least half the work, it is hoped, they will do in the future, when people have learned to visit the dentist regularly. The 'uncontrolled' list covers 'all normal conservative treatment' (including anaesthetics, and removal of teeth to relieve pain or not requiring replacement) ; ordinary repairs to dentures ; and (with certain limits of cost) certain other kinds of treatment. The 'controlled' list includes the removal of teeth which have to be replaced by dentures ; certain special kinds of work (such as extensive and prolonged treatment of the gums and surgery of the mouth) ; and certain things which may be 'extras', such as gold fillings, inlays, crowns, and various special appliances. For 'controlled' work the dentist will need prior approval from the Dental Estimates Board, a body made up like the Medical Practices Committee, seven of its nine members (including the chairman) being dentists appointed after consultation with professional organisations. For the rest he sends in particulars (to claim his fees) after the event. Care of the Eyes Care of the eyes, whether for injury, disease or vision, is mainly specialist work. At present, as in the past, the hospital and specialist services supply all medical treatment of the eyes which is beyond the scope of the family doctor. But in the past most of the work of testing people's eyesight, in order to decide if they need spectacles or corrective * Proposals for a Dental Health Service for the Nation. 30
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |