An NHS dentist has issued a warning to health tourists that they will be on their own if their "Turkey teeth" go wrong, because surgeries in the UK will be unable to help them.
Birmingham Live reports that Vijay Sudra said he begged a patient not to go to Turkey for surgery and told them: "I can't help you if it goes wrong." And he said it was a tragedy that the "broken and absolutely bonkers" NHS dental system was forcing patients to go abroad to have their teeth fixed.
The owner of the Shard End Dental Practice in Birmingham said UK dentists would not fix issues which may arise from patients having veneers in another country for fear of being held liable for any damage caused. But a woman who had been visiting his practice for more than 30 years told him she was considering it.
Mr Sudra said he told her: "Please don't. If something went wrong and you came back to me to fix it, I wouldn't be able to because I'd be responsible for any damage." He explained: "Dental tourism is dangerous. It's a tragedy in a first-world nation that people are going to Turkey and Ukraine to get their teeth fixed."
The dentist said he had always refused to make his practice private as wanted to help the community in an impoverished area in Birmingham. He added that he was unsure where any of his NHS patients would go if he were to make the change.
In England, one in four people are struggling to book or afford a check-up. And practices which offer NHS services are swamped by demand.
"This is an impoverished area with lots of social issues and we are absolutely snowed under with patients who need emergency help," Mr Sudra said. "NHS dentists are a dying breed and there aren't many of us left. If we didn't offer this service, I don't know where these people would go."
Subscribe here for the latest news where you live
He said that around the corner was an "incredibly affluent area with million-pound houses and private dentistry." But he said that was a luxury many people in his area could not afford. He compared the churning out of patients to a "factory" and he said working with the NHS was near-impossible and it was unsurprising that so many practices are going private.
"It's a very high-pressured environment with a lot of stress. The system is broken and absolutely bonkers," he said. "We want to be able to spend time with patients and unfortunately you can't do that on the NHS. I don't think any dentist chooses to go private light-heartedly."
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
