Third World out of hours Dentistry provision

This afternoon Debbie chipped a tooth at the base which brought about quite a bit of discomfort.  Dairy Milk chocolate that has been stored in the fridge for a few hours is never the softest but Debbie likes it this way.

Having been brought up in a nation with a National Health Service that used to be the envy of the world we thought nothing of ringing the dental practice that she normally uses because they used to provide emergency cover.  Not any more!

The recorded machine simply gave the usual opening hours and a telephone number which turned out to be the number for NHS Direct.  Apparently these days a telephone call is all that the NHS needs to provide.  The only cover available to us is if we have the means to pay for a private dentist to come out to our home though if the pain becomes too great I suppose a trip to A&E could be a possibility but they did not mention it.

Now let me work this out, bearing in mind that I have just applied for income based job seekers allowance, the cost of a private dentist out of hours at the weekend calling to our home would be ...... more than we can afford without question.

A trip to the chemist for some advice and I return with a packet of Ibuprofen and a packet of Co-Codomol for the pain.

Just in case anyone is considering volunteering myself, Andrew, Sian, James and Aimee have all offered to help finish the chocolate.