Supermarket dentists fill a hole in the market!

Countries such as Australia which are undergoing somewhat of a crisis when it comes to providing easily accessible dental treatment, could pick up a few tips from a new initiative in Britain.

One of the UK's largest supermarket chains Sainsbury's has opened a dental surgery in a store in Manchester.

The dental surgery is being trialled in Sainsbury's store in Sale, Greater Manchester, and comes in response to a demand from thousands in the area, unable to find a surgery willing to take on new patients.

Britain's first supermarket dentist will be open seven days a week and some treatments are expected to undercut National Health Service (NHS) dental costs.

The new practice is equipped to provide a full dental service from check-ups and polishing to root canal fillings and has been already been inundated with prospective patients eager to register.

Other surgeries are expected to open at other Sainsbury's stores across the country.

Resident dentist Dr. Lance Knight says the practice offers shoppers professional and cost-effective treatments seven days a week.

Dr. Knight who already has several private surgeries in Manchester, says he was acting in response to demands for competitively priced treatment and says the costs will be similar to NHS prices but they are relying on local people to support the scheme.

He believes the initiative could revolutionise dentistry in Britain which has been jeoparised by new Government contracts which essentially capped the fees dentists could charge patients for treatment.

This led many dentists to abandon the NHS and set up private practices resulting in a massive shortage of NHS dentists nationwide.

The ensuing dental crisis led to massive queues of would-be patients each time a new NHS dentist decided to open up a surgery.

Dr. Knight says the new practice aims to making dentistry more accessible.