UK Dentists: More patient time in new contract

Britain’s National Health Service dentists are protesting loudly over delays in getting them a new contract.   It’s not a standard more-money complaint, though.  About half of the U.K.’s 26,000 dentists work for the government, and they make roughly the same amounts as private dentists, around  £65,000, with less risk than those in private practice.

But NHS workers typically see 50 patients a day, or twice the number seen by an average private dentist.  This doesn’t mean they work twice as hard, but rather that they can spend only half as much time with each patient, which makes the practice much less rewarding.