I apologise unreservedly to Mr Bates. My comments were directed entirely because Mr Bates is a Conservative and because his dental website made no reference to NHS treatment. Political criticism is a vital part of democracy, vitriolic personal attack upon someone about whom I know nothing in totally unjustified. The only excuse I can offer is that, at the time, I was recovering from an epileptic fit during which I had broken one of my few remaining teeth and was enveloped in a veil of self-pity after forty years of suffering epileptic fits. The epilepsy has smashed up my jaw and most of the teeth in my mouth, I have had extensive hospital orthodontic surgery in the past and possess a brain which as it slowly recovers consciousness asks one question above all others which is ‘Have I broken yet another tooth, knocked out another filling or dislodged another crown?’ and should have refrained from comment until I was in a more responsible frame of mind.
Dentistry for me has not been a lifetime of tooth whitening, it has been delivery at hospital for jaw reconstruction surgery, bridges and implants which have over the years not been able to stand the stress of epileptic fits and an essential factor in me coping with such destruction has been a fantastic NHS dentist.
I stand by my strong beliefs that health care should be available through the NHS and appropriate sections of the public sector but I had no right to comment about Mr Bates.
