We use NHS dentists, ministers tell Brown

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Gordon Brown leaving the London centre for Cosmetic Dentistry last week

Senior Cabinet ministers have lined up to insist they used Health Service dentists after Gordon Brown was treated at a £100-an-hour private clinic.

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The Chancellor had root canal treatment at the London Centre for Cosmetic Dentistry last week.

It is run by leading private dentist Mervyn Druian.

The Tories challenged Mr Brown to improve access to NHS dentists for those who could not afford expensive private treatment.

The Chancellor's aides dismissed claims that he had undermined his opposition to private medicine, insisting using a private dentist was not the same as using a private doctor.

But yesterday Mr Brown was embarrassed again as six Cabinet ministers – including Tony Blair – revealed that their teeth were looked after on the NHS.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: "I can confirm the Prime Minister uses an NHS dentist."

A spokesman for Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain, who hopes to be Mr Brown's deputy when Mr Blair quits, said: "Peter always had an NHS dentist in Putney, London, until last year when that went private – so he immediately switched to an NHS dentist in Neath, his constituency in Wales."

Blairite party chairman Hazel Blears, another contender for Labour's deputy leadership, also favours NHS treatment.

"Hazel Blears does not use a private dentist, but uses her local NHS service in Salford," her spokesman said.

An aide to Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said: "She has not used a private dentist since she has lived in the UK. The only exception was when she was living in Australia as a child, but the system over there is different."

Environment Secretary David Miliband – touted as a potential leadership challenger to Mr Brown – and the Leader of the Lords, Baroness Amos, also confirmed they used NHS dentists.

It emerged last week that Mr Brown allowed the dentist to drill through to deep nerve tissue without an anaesthetic.

He apparently did not want his mouth to freeze hours before he was due to deliver a speech.

A spokesman for the Chancellor defended his decision to go private, saying: "Gordon has been going to the same dentist for 11 years. Mr Druian is an old friend of Sarah Brown's family, and while Gordon very rarely goes to the dentist, when he has done he has usedMr Druian.

"Gordon is no different to the large number of people who have found themselves without an NHS dentist because he did not visit one regularly.

"If you have a toothache, you have to find a dentist quickly and to do that you have to go private. It is not like arranging an appointment with your GP."

Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley said: "At least there is something that Gordon Brown seems to have in common with people across the country – he has to use a private dentist.

"I do however wish there was some evidence he understood that millions of people would like to get access to NHS dentists, but can't."

In 1999, Mr Blair pledged all patients would have access to NHS dentistry within two years.

But only four in ten are currently on the books of an NHS dentist in England and Wales.

 

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