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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics

Let overseas-trained dentists get to work

Dentist at work with patient
‘Brilliant dental specialists are being treated appallingly.’ Photograph: Getty/Johner RF

Thank you, Denis Campbell, for highlighting the distressing plight of many overseas-trained dentists in this country (Overseas-trained dentists working in McDonald’s as millions lack NHS care, 18 June). Brilliant dental specialists are being treated appallingly, repeatedly rejected in their attempts to book the overseas registration exam, which they could pass with ease if they could only manage to sit it.

For dentists longing to work in the NHS but who are having to take up low-paid jobs, this is a form of mental torture. Meanwhile, people are unable to get dental care on the NHS. Where’s the sense in this?
Jenny Bradley
Cirencester, Gloucestershire

• I note that a government spokesperson has responded to an inquiry about dentists by boasting about “the upcoming 10-year health plan”. This seems to suggest that the plan is not yet in place and that any concrete improvements will take more than a few years. Another case of be patient, there will be jam tomorrow. But tomorrow never comes (especially relating to the government’s 10-year plans).
Simon Lauris Hudson
Pontefract, West Yorkshire

• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.

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