A family who've been unable to see a local NHS dentist have taken to thinking outside of the box – and outside of the country – to make sure they get a check-up.
The Woodmanseys travel 6,000 miles from their home in Yorkshire to Brazil in order to make sure their teeth are in order and claim it works out more cost-effective for them to do so.
Dad Stuart Woodmansey, 43, told The Sun that it is cheaper to fly his wife Kedma, 41, and young son Jacob there than go private in the UK – something he says they'd have to do owing to the difficulties they were having in finding dentists that would take on NHS patients.
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Apparently nine in 10 dental practices were not taking new NHS patients currently, leaving people like Stuart with a headache as to what to do to make sure they don't end up with a toothache as well.
The security consultant, from Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, said: “I can’t get an appointment in our area, I’ve been trying for years. I have to go in Brazil when we’re there on holiday.”
Stuart went on to explain that he takes his family to a dentist in his wife Kedma’s home city of São Paulo.
He pointed out: “After you’ve paid for a flight – about £600 to £700 – the dentist in Brazil only charges around £50 a visit.
“It works out much cheaper than £1,000 for private treatment here.”
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Stuart apparently last saw the dentist in Brazil just before the pandemic and plans to have a check-up on his next trip.
While the cost of dental care varies around the world, there's no denying that private healthcare in many westernised countries is increasingly unaffordable to the public at large.
In Australia, though, one political party wants to tackle the problem and make billionaires pay for the country's dental care via a billionaire tax.
The Greens political party in Australia last month announced an election policy that would put dental work on Medicare, with Australia's richest paying for it.
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Greens leader Adam Bandt said that if the party holds the balance of power after the polls close on May 21 they plan to make free dental care a top priority for the country.
The political party stated that they will pay for the $7.5 billion policy by introducing a 6 percent additional tax on billionaires and a corporate ‘super profits tax’.
Mr Bandt says they have a good track record in this realm after they successfully negotiated a $4 billion reform dental package for low-income families in 2010.
He said in a press conference announcing the policy: "The best way to tackle the rising cost of living is to make healthcare and housing cheaper, not one-off handouts that get eaten up by inflation.
"People will be better off if dental is in Medicare."
Simon Catling