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UK Against Fluoridation

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Portsmouth PCT turn down fluoridation to get £8m for dental care.

Dental 'outreach' to improve care
Ambitious plans for a multi-million pound project to take NHS dental care to thousands of people in deprived areas have been put forward.
If the plans are approved, more than 13,000 new appointments a year would be created for people in Portsmouth, east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. The scheme is the result of a joint funding bid between the University of Portsmouth and King's College, London.
The plan is for an £8m 'outreach' project, which would take dental care into the community, as an extension to the existing School of Professions Complementary to Dentistry.It already offers services including fillings, teeth extractions, scaling and polishing and preventative treatment.Fifth-year undergraduate students and medical care professionals would provide more complex care including surgical work and root canal treatment if the centre is approved.The bid is in its early stages but the Department of Health has already pledged £1.6m to the project.
University vice-chancellor John Craven said: 'We would like to be able to provide facilities for people who would not otherwise have access to a dentist.
'We want to have a much greater involvement in dental education. We hope that by training people here more dentists will settle in the area, building a more solid foundation for dental treatment in the future.'
Portsmouth City Council leader Gerald Vernon-Jackson said: 'We have a real problem in this city with kids having access to dental care, particularly around the city centre. Only recently the NHS was discussing putting fluoride in the water, which shows how serious things are.'This is something that can help secure the future of dental care in the area for decades.'The British Dental Foundation (BDF) has welcomed plans.BDF spokeswoman Leigh Greenwood said: 'Not being able to access an NHS dentist has a much greater effect on people in deprived areas as they cannot afford to go private.'
'In addition, people in deprived areas are often in greater need of regular dental checks. If it is able to create an additional 13,0000 appointments every year then the proposed centre could help significantly.'
A bid for over £2m towards the project from the Higher Education Funding Council For England must be submitted by the end of October.
clare.semke@thenews.co.u
27 October 2006

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