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Dentist Botox plan injects anger
Patients' groups have reacted angrily to a rise in NHS dentists branching out into cosmetic surgery.

Botox injections cost about £200 at dentists' surgeries

A course training dentists in how to give Botox injections - which get rid of wrinkles - is currently running in London.

The private treatment costs about £200 per session.

A patients' group says the Botox work will get in the way of NHS dental treatment, at a time of crisis in the service.

Dr Vaheh Avanessian has introduced the cosmetic surgery procedure into his practice in London's West End.

He said: "It was almost a natural thing to do.

"We know the facial anatomy anyway, so it didn't seem a big step."

He got training at a course run by David Hicks, a London pharmacist who supplies a lot of the injections.

He says more and more NHS and private dentists are getting interested.

"Dentists have a really good training on facial anatomy," he said.

Hundreds queued to join a new NHS dentist in Scarborough

"Within the course they get a top-up on the upper half of the face."

Gary Chalmers, who has received the Botox treatment at a dentist's, said: "They're in cosmetics.

"They are doing work on your teeth and on your face. It just follows hand-in-hand."

In Scarborough last month, hundreds of people queued to join a new NHS dentist.

Botox conference

And patients' groups are now calling for dentists to stick to treating teeth and stop trying to make more money.

Geoff Martin, from the London branch of the pro-NHS campaign group Health Emergency, said: "A lot of them [dentists] seem to see themselves as freelance entrepreneurs out to make a fast buck, concentrating on private care and looking to expand their market into cosmetic surgery.

"And all that can do is stop people needing access to frontline dental care getting it."

Next month, 200 dentists will come to London for a conference which will discuss the best ways to introduce the Botox treatments into their practices.
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