Birmingham tops table for Dentist Dodgers

A new survey has shown that that the inhabitants of Birmingham are by far the most likely people in Britain to avoid going to the dentist.

The top cities for not visiting the dentist are:

1. Birmingham 12%
2. Hull 8%
3. Bristol 7%
4. Nottingham 4%
5. Manchester 3%

Not surprisingly, Birmingham also tops the table for the largest number of teeth lost per person. People are ignoring problems until the damage is irreversible and there is no alternative to extraction.

Newcastle is at the other end of the table, for having the best maintained dental health – probably because every Geordie in existence is appearing regularly on television these days and they need to look their best.

Of course the recession has had a big impact, but why does Birmingham do so much worse than everybody else? Birmingham does not have the worst unemployment, it certainly doesn’t have the lowest average income levels and there is no shortage of access to treatment at every level from free to private. In fact, the dental provision here is far better than most of the cities which have much higher levels of dental health. 

I would be interested to hear any ideas you might have to explain the situation – this does not apply to the Mancunian patient who told me that the table merely reflects a four-fold difference in intelligence between his city and ours. He then started to discuss the football Premiership table but that was easily headed off with a nice long injection.

On a more serious note, if you are struggling to meet our dental charges, remember that we have a Dental Therapist on the staff and she can usually provide fillings (including white ones) for a much lower fee.

And, if finances are the only thing holding you back, please talk to us and we’ll work something out. At the Dentist in Town we see every lost tooth as a personal defeat and we want to help all our patients keep their teeth for life.

Keep smiling.

Tom

The Dentist in Town

0121 236 8681