Hammond Survives Budget. Tooth Extraction and Dentistry's Gender Balance

Offending Tooth after Extraction

UK Chancellor Philip Hammond put a positive spin on what was, in effect, a toothless budget today. Whilst making positive noises about the increase in the number of jobs and unexpectedly larger than expected tax revenues, he could not gloss over the fact that he had to borrow more money than originally planned in the coming year.

This is to pay for the additional billions required to stave off the NHS crisis, put a plaster on the catastrophic waiting times for prospective recipients of universal credit, and to put extra money aside for dealing with Brexit.

This could not hide the figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility, which revised their growth expectations for the UK downwards over the coming years to 1.5%, the worst growth since the 1980's and currently lower than many other developing nations.

The support for additional Maths funding in schools was positive.

But, with no major antagonism of either of the Brexit camps and addressing some of conservative MP's concerns, he has survived politically.

The dental theme arose because today I had the first tooth extraction since I was a child. My memory of that time was being in a forces hospital, with two others, to have three four and five teeth extracted respectively. I had four removed at the time to make way for future teeth.

My new dentist, Maria, pumped my lower left jaw full of anaesthetic whilst the assistant gave me a run down, in a reassuring tone, on what was going to happen and how to look after the resultant cavity. Even I had to acknowledge that the molar needed removing. Its roots had been filled, the top capped nearly a decade ago for a mere £1000, so I had been reluctant to let it go. Bleeding gums, the X-ray evidence of an abscess and decay meant it's time it had come.

It was with fascination, trepidation and yet a slight detachment that I felt the tooth being gripped, pressed down and twisted back and forth to break the ligaments holding it in, before it was pulled out with bits of associated cartilage and flesh. A wad was placed over the gaping hole in my jaw and I was told to bite down for 15 minutes, to allow the blood to clot. Still reluctant to part with the tooth, I was allowed to take the trophy away with me.

Maria issued a matter-of-fact warning that if there was an increase in pain accompanied by bad breath, I should return for additional treatment and antibiotics as that would signal a resurgent residual bacterial infection, a fate I hope to avoid. I left, struck numb by biting on the wad and the absence of any feeling on the left side of my face.

So far, two paracetamols have been all that I needed, with hardly any pain. I'd been told to take it easy for the rest of the day - good advice as I did feel a bit washed out. This was more than compensated for by Jane's empathetic response, though I was warned that this had a strict 24 hour limit.

I used to have a fear of dentists, probably arising from childhood experiences in Singapore where occasionally the anaesthetic failed and the old buzz-drill vibrated the whole head when dealing with sugar damaged childhood teeth from a pre-flourinated era. Most of the negative experiences had been with the males of the profession, whereas decades with Miss Kenny, Maria's retired predecessor, had been less traumatic, despite the later fillings needed.

This had me wondering, in an idle moment today, about the gender ratio for the dentists. Back in 2007, only about a quarter of US dentists were female. Other countries however had radically different figures. As far back as 1970, half of the dentists in Greece were women, about one-third in France, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, and almost four-fifths in Russia, Finland, Latvia, and Lithuania. Currently in the UK the male to female ratio is approximately 55% to 45% and the current entrants to dentistry training suggest  a 50:50 male:female ratio when they graduate.

The numerical equality is not matched in income, according to a 2015 BDA report. Of the dentists in the highest pay bracket, only one quarter were women, whereas at the other end of the scale about two thirds of the lowest paid dentists were women. See: https://bda.org/dentists/policy-campaigns/campaigns/women-in-dentistry. While there are a number of factors, such as the older average age of male dentists, and 72% of men working more than 30 hours per week on average compared to 45% of women, there is still a gender bias to be bridged.