Another number.

The moon still hung pale over the Lake. It sneered a little then seemed to glow stronger as the snow came down in sheets. The car was slow to start: it gasped and coughed until the engine finally spluttered into life. The driver was tired and very late. He´d never wanted to leave the house but he felt obliged, obliged to be another number in a queue doomed to finish back here in the end.

New snow upon old ice! It cloaked and choked the country road, blurring the ditches and leveling the dips. The bends straightened and where they´d found old Pat dead in his overturned wreck the year before, he braked too hard and lost control.  Clutching desperately, the engine dampened and the tyres took off, they whizzed for a second then floated across the whiteness.  Time slowed; he let go.  And silently the car slid sideways down the road in the stillness of a winter morning.

He didn´t panic, moon – hedge – T-junction – hedge, he simply closed his eyes until the music then thoughts came in steady succession. “Who will buy my sweet red roses? Two blooms for a penny, a wonderful morning. You love Oliver but what was that actor´s name, the one who played Fagin? He reminds you of your Dad, dancing, singing and always smiling. How you miss those long walks on the farm, wellies disappearing in his huge footprints. Will your son think of you in the same way when you´re gone…”

His head was a hive of arcane activity, he whispered to himself as the car spun on. “Shit, you forgot the telephone bill; herself won´t be happy. Nor will she be happy when she hears about this tumour under your tongue. It doesn´t hurt but you should have told her, she´s already suspicious of these early starts and sure anyway, you´ll have to come clean in the end. Or with any luck, this will be the end.” He stopped.

The car had too, the motor cut, it now pointed back in the direction of home.  He gathered himself, removed the wool cap and mopped the sweat from his brow. Relentlessly, the snow fell still in the immense silence of space. And after a moment´s consideration, he started up again, turned the car around and continued into town.

The waiting room was busy with numbers. Knowing looks and long names isolated the professionals from the non-infectious, gloves and masks from their ulcers and lumps.  There was no explanation when he opened wide his mouth, nor when the surgeon pulled his tongue first this way, then that. Few courtesies as the painless ulcer was measured and catalogued and little poetry as the expert felt excitedly for that hard swelling beneath his chin.

Old ice and new snow, he mused, “you´ll tell her this evening so”.

Dr D. Mac Auley.

Published Meath Chronicle 27/03/2013.

Five Years of HSE Neglect

Published Meath Chronicle 24th June 2015. 

In 2010, the Fianna Fail/GP government removed the treatment of gum disease from Medical Card holders. Gum disease can cause bad breath, swollen, bleeding gums, loosening teeth, pain and ultimately extractions. Despite a 2014 survey on oral health showing it now affects 80% of adults, the current government is more than happy to leave nearly one-third of the Irish population with an untreated disease. 

And don´t think they don´t know! 
The government paid for the above study. Leo Varadkar while Minister of Health wrote, “Oral disease impacts on the majority of the population...the prevalence of dental decay and gum disease remains high. These conditions are preventable…” However, he´s not willing to do anything about it, his mates in the HSE are also happy to neglect Irish health. Although their website admits one of the best methods of prevention is a regular “scale and polish that involves having the plaque and tartar scraped away from your teeth with a special instrument, before your teeth are polished to remove any marks or stains”, the HSE fails to point out this treatment is not available to the vast majority of GMS patients. 

It´s not just about teeth! 
Inflammation in your gums affects other parts of your body; its presence increases your risk of heart disease and it´s also linked to strokes. Researchers have found that men with gum disease were 49% more likely to develop kidney cancer, 54% more likely to develop pancreatic cancer, and 30% more likely to develop blood cancers. Failure to treat oral inflammation is having wider health impacts on people abandoned by the state. 

So, why aren´t people up in arms? 
Unfortunately, gum disease has few notable symptoms until it is too far gone – loose, painful teeth that need extraction. There is also a lethargy within the dental profession to deal adequately with a disease that is so prevalent; the government isn´t exactly leading by example. In addition, successful treatment of gum disease requires a commitment from both parties – dentist and patient. Although I´ve threatened it often enough, a dentist can´t be stood looking over you every night when it comes to floss those lower molars. 

Early gum disease

I´m a Medical Card holder and think I have gum disease. What next? 
Firstly, get a diagnosis. The next time you go to the dentist, ask him/her if you have gum disease – request it in writing as is your right. Once you have the confirmation inform the HSE – best to also do this in writing. Now you are in a stronger position, the government is aware you have a disease that they are refusing to treat. If your condition worsens, which is very likely, then they have a substantial liability should you wish to seek compensation in the future.
In a recent compensation case, a 51-year old man from the North of England successfully sued his dentist when he failed to diagnose and treat his gum disease – he received £20,000 in settlement. 

Maybe the current government will understand measuring people's health and well-being in terms of monetary value can be a double-edged sword.

Dr Don Mac Auley.

Swings First.

Published Meath Chronicle 18/02/2014.

Becoming a father for the first time is a joyful, emotional, if shocking prospect. His eyes blinking against the bright hospital lights, your brain too searched its deepest recesses for this shiny face that stared back, one as helpless as the other. The shock passes slowly. But the first months fly by. Then one day he wants to sit up. He likes to watch the fire, the lamps and next he tries to stand. Up until this point you think you have it sorted.  If he can walk then he´ll be able to run. Down the park danger lurked everywhere – bikes, dogs, cars, your mind boggled and soon enough you feared for his future safety under a cloud of overprotection.

Now was the time to take a trip down the memory lane of my own childhood.  We would all like our youngsters to have that same carefree, happy time, as I did, playing outside in a gang of kids. Unfortunately, more and more children are finding their childhood stolen.  And the culprit is, like mine, parents´ fears. Recently, a class of eight to nine year olds was asked to describe happiness and one replied, ‘‘Happiness is being able to pay the mortgage.” Now that answer didn’t originate in the playground. The reality is kids are spending too long indoors with adults and not enough time outside with their peers.

Instead, recreation is now locked up in a home flush with gadgets. Excused as educational devices, televisions and computers become their convenient window on the world where, with less monitoring, our children make their first decisions alone. Changing the channel or surfing the web, there is no democracy of the gang and there is no social or sharing experience. We are creating a generation of individuals, mere fodder for advertisers who ruthlessly exploit them for profit. So you can’t really blame kids for wanting more stuff. And when refused we find we´re breeding resentment, not the well-adjusted offspring we hoped for.

But at least inside they are safe, I hear you cry. Safe from what? The bombardment of hungry corporations, the violence of negligent TV programmers or the obesity of inactive lifestyles; take your pick. In the 1970s, Northern Ireland wasn’t exactly the safest place on the planet yet we played outside from dawn until dusk. We heard bombs, we were aware of the dangers but it didn’t rule our lives or our parents’ every waking moment.

It is, however, silly to argue that nothing has changed since then or that nothing changes for the worse. Still we passively accept the hype and fear thrust upon us, forcing decisions that are not in our children’s best interests. We also share little or no responsibility for this unsatisfactory situation and often make the mistake of concluding that everything outside must be bad. Alternatively, we could question the world around us with more interest. We could take stock of the past and place trust in our children giving them more time together on their own terms.

I thought, we´ll start with the swings then maybe the slide. He looked chuffed.

Dr. Don Mac Auley.

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The thin veneer

Published Meath Chronicle 26/06/2013

After all these years, the receptionist watched the dentist finally sign the papers. She whisked them up, packed them into an oversized envelope and presented it back to him. He threw her a tight-lipped smile and headed for the post. As the glass shuddered after him, she recalled those signs from her college days in London, grubby signs hung in hotels and guest house windows, often hand scribbled yet still carved in her heart.

Heavy clouds hovered overhead, the air was saturated. A few hardy types well insulated against the elements led the way. Mid-morning breaks never used to be a reality but since the bubble burst he had time on his hands, too much time. Scurrying past the shopping centre he clutched the envelope as if his future depended on it. At least the older clients hadn´t abandoned him. Yet he still felt a little embarrassed when they enquired about business. He didn´t enjoy lying to them, nor to his family for that matter, however the signs were there – flaking paint on the exterior, the patched-up equipment and same-day appointments always available. Most knew his prices hadn´t budged in years; those that complained weren´t sent reminders. After all, he was an experienced dentist and deserved every penny he could wring out of them.

The queue at the post office was moving well until the waves of doubt rolled in again. Suddenly, he felt like an old cloth, once useful but now scrunched up and discarded to dry and wither in some window where one day, if someone should find and try and open him up, he would simply crumble to dust. “Was this envelope the answer to his troubles?” The question still hung on the line when a retired colleague interrupted his thought convention. This good old boy was in great form, having sold up before the crisis, he praised his friend for holding out.  Heads turned as the old-timer worked himself into a lather of criticism against other dentists in town who had dropped their prices, practically foaming at the mouth on the subject of websites and patients shopping around.  “That never happened in our day, eh? If they didn´t like it they went up North, now the Northerners are down here!”

Distracted by the commotion, he didn´t realise he was now hiding the envelope behind his back. Until the old boy spotted it, “What have you got there?” The other retreated, his face reddening with every step towards the door. “Hey, where are you going…and why aren´t you working this morning?” the sentiment squeezed him into the street. He ran for it. 

The receptionist saw him coming. Her heart sank at the sight of the envelope containing the application forms. Those signs from her youth came flooding back – "No Blacks, no Dogs, no Irish". She trembled as she touched her own envelope deep in her tunic´s pocket. Resignation or overreaction, thoughts of family kept it hidden.  The dentist stormed in, refusing to look her in the eye, he casually straightened his sign in the window, it read – NO MEDICAL CARDS.

Dr. Don Mac Auley.