A family from Ukraine who fled to the UK after Putin invaded returned to the war-torn country after struggling to find an NHS orthodontist to fit braces.
Nataliia Zavalniuk, 39, and her daughter Viktoriia, 14, were given shelter by a host in Bosham, West Sussex, after Putin unleashed scenes of horror when he ordered his troops to invade Ukraine two years ago in the brutal invasion.
The family returned to Vinnytsia, central Ukraine, on April 16, 2023, exactly a year since they arrived in the UK, where Viktoriia immediately received the dental care she needed and braces were fitted “within days”.
In a shocking revelation, Economist Impact’s Health Inclusivity Index found that 67 per cent of Ukrainians were able to see a dentist within 24 hours in the war-torn country, compared to just 23 per cent of people in the UK .
It comes as Britons have been forced to queue from 4am to win a place at dental practices which have opened their list to NHS patients in scenes described as “reminiscent of Soviet-era Eastern Europe”.
Viktoriia, 14, returned to Ukraine with her mother, where she immediately received the dental care she needed and was fitted with braces “within days”.
Some have even resorted to DIY dentistry, using pliers to remove decaying or painful teeth at home.
Ms Zavalniuk, a procurement manager, told The Times that her experience of living in the UK had been “very poor” after struggling to get an NHS dental appointment, with the alternative of private treatment being too expensive.
In a damning testimony about the battered state of the NHS, Ms Zavalniuk said that despite the war, it was “very easy” to access dental treatment in Ukraine.
Getting braces in Ukraine costs around £300, while each appointment will cost the equivalent of £10, according to Ms Zavalniuk.
He said they were “lucky” Viktoriia’s dental needs were not more urgent.
Speaking to The Times, Dr Louise Baverstock, who took the family into her home in Bosham, said she took in the desperate Ukrainian refugees because she was “so proud to be British”.
He added: “After six months they moved into an apartment and literally everything was perfect… but they couldn’t go to the dentist.
The GP said Viktoriia “clearly needed” orthodontic treatment but was not optimistic about the teenager’s access to dental care in the UK due to
In damning testimony about the battered state of the NHS, Ms Zavalniuk said that despite the war, it was “very easy” to access dental treatment in Ukraine
Dr Baverstock said other factors contributing to their return were nostalgia as well as Viktoriia’s need for orthodontic treatment.
He added: “They literally went back to Ukraine, a country at war, to get dentist treatment.”
The GP, who regularly sees “vulnerable” patients who need urgent care at her practice but cannot get access, has blamed austerity measures for the NHS’s sorry state.
Eddie Crouch, chairman of the British Dental Association, told The Times: “It speaks volumes that refugees are returning to the front line for care that has virtually ceased to exist for millions in this country. The government’s strict policies have failed both Ukrainian visitors and natives.”
Earlier this month, police broke up a queue outside a newly opened NHS dental practice in Bristol.
Officers applied a cut-off point partway through the queue, telling those behind that they would have to come back and try their luck again another day.
Shawn Charlwood, chairman of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) General Dentistry Committee, told the BBC’s Today Programme: “I have a lot of sympathy for people in [Bristol] Tail.
“I never thought I would see police being forced to disperse crowds of people trying to access dental care.
“But we’ve seen patients from the UK head to Ukraine to access dental care, we’ve seen people take matters into their own hands with pliers and DIY dentistry.
“But what we have is a Health Secretary — she likes to say she’s making the NHS faster, simpler and fairer. But there is a real danger that not even a word about dentistry will apply.’
A Labor ad, headlined ‘Dentistry doesn’t work’, shows queues of prospective patients pictured waiting to register at a newly opened NHS dental practice in Bristol
Saatchi & Saatchi designed the famous poster for the Tory Party in the run-up to the 1979 general election, where Margaret Thatcher ran against Labor Prime Minister James Callaghan
Addressing the Commons three weeks ago, shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said there had been reports of “Ukrainian refugees who have made dental appointments back home and come back for treatment because it’s easier to fly to a war-torn country than to see an NHS dentist in England’.
NHS dentistry has been in crisis for years, with leaders arguing the sector has been chronically underfunded, making it financially unviable to carry out treatments.
Earlier this month, the government announced its long-awaited NHS dental overhaul plan, but it was met with criticism from health experts and MPs who warned it would not work.
Under Rishi Sunak’s bold plan to fix the appointment crisis plaguing millions, dentists will be offered cash incentives and ‘golden hellos’ to take on new patients and work in ‘underserved’ communities with a lack of NHS dental services
The compounding problem is that as more dentists leave the NHS, those who remain are overwhelmed by more and more patients.
Hundreds of people have been pictured queuing outside a newly opened NHS dental practice in Bristol
Local media compared the serpentine queue as “reminiscent of Soviet-era Eastern Europe”
The line closed at around 2.15pm, about six hours after it opened and hundreds of prospective patients were queuing
An official survey recently revealed that a quarter of adults have delayed dental care or treatment because of the cost.
One in three also said the cost of dentistry has affected the type of care or treatment they continue to have, while a quarter don’t brush their teeth at least twice a day.
A damning report by the Nuffield Trust has warned that NHS dentistry has “gone for good” and should be handed out to those most in need.
Even children struggle to get the dental care they need.
Only a limited number of people are entitled to free NHS dental care. These include children, pregnant women and new mothers, and people with low incomes.
Even those paying for NHS dentistry face significantly cheaper fees for treatment and care because it is subsidized by the government.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “We want every adult and child in England who needs an NHS dentist to get one no matter where they live and through our new dental rehabilitation plan which will create an extra 2.5 million dental appointments – We are taking action to improve access and incentivize practices to provide more NHS dental care.
“We invest £3 billion every year to deliver NHS dentistry and access is improving – last year 1.7 million more adults and around 800,000 more children visited an NHS dentist – and we have also announced plans to increase dental training places by 40% .”
