It was probably inevitable that dentists would bite back at the claim from the Office of Fair Trading that many in the profession have been misleading patients into having unnecessary treatment. In fact, the vast majority of the public are happy with the care they receive, according to the British Dental Association. That may be so. But a significant minority – perhaps as many as 500,000 people – may have either been offered private treatment without being told of a cheaper NHS alternative, or, worse still, been given treatments they did not need.

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Deborah Ross: Camping holidays with the kids – what's not to love?

If you ask me: I love crawling around a tent on my hands and knees. I love getting dressed while lying flat on my back.

Patients 'misled by private dentists'

Dentists may be misleading their patients about their NHS entitlements to prompt them to pay for private care, a watchdog has said.

Elemental Herbology Perfect Clarity Blemish Minimiser, £24, asos.com

How To Be Beautiful: Blemish treatments

One unexpected benefit of passing from teenage years into adulthood is that, if you're lucky, 10 per cent of your brain is no longer wasted on the daily monitoring of spots. The period of grace before that same 10 per cent is diverted to wrinkle-watch may be woefully brief, but since lines progress imperceptibly, it's impossible to maintain a vigil of the same intensity.

The News Matrix: Tuesday 8 May 2012

'Female Brucie would be a bonus'

Dentists 'inventing work to defraud NHS'

Dental surgeries are exaggerating or inventing work they have done for the National Health Service in order to swindle tens of millions of pounds out of taxpayers, according to a check up of dentists’ honesty.

Hitler postcard found at roadshow

Adolf Hitler was surprisingly keen to return to the front line after being injured in the First World War, a recently-discovered postcard suggests.

Medics filmed 'offering female circumcision'

Up to 100,000 women in Britain have been "circumcised", with medics across the country offering to carry out illegal genital mutilations on girls as young as 10, it was reported yesterday.

Salmond like Hitler, says Starkey

The ever controversial TV Historian Dr David Starkey has compared Alex Salmond to Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

Berlusconi 'paid off witnesses'

Silvio Berlusconi has allegedly paid €127,000 (£100,000) to three women including Imma and Eleonora De Vivo, two twin TV showgirls.

Justin Esch and Dave Lefkow multi-purpose condiment, Baconnaise

Bacon is all over us – like a rasher...

Everything tastes better with bacon. Or so goes a flawed bit of mid-Noughties American wisdom.

Researchers link dental x-rays to brain tumours

Frequent dental X-rays may significantly increase the risk of non-malignant brain tumours, say researchers.

Lily Collins and her 'two smug caterpillars'

The real stars of Mirror Mirror? Lily's brows

Prog-rock progeny Lily Collins hasn't inherited her hirsute features from her father Phil that's for sure, but her beetly brows are gracing bus stops and billboards as part of the publicity push for her film "Mirror Mirror".

Dentists 'should check for alcohol abuse'

Dentists should screen patients for signs that they drink too much alcohol, researchers have said.

Previous research in America has suggested that redheads are more susceptible to pain

Why dental visits are hair-raising if you're a redhead

New research aims to determine whether having ginger hair makes you especially sensitive to pain

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