Letter: Pain in the jaw

'DENTAL charges set to rocket' (28 June) claims that '. . . people on . . . low incomes . . . get free treatment'. Admittedly, 'low' is a relative term but how low does it have to be to be considered 'low'?

My wife and I are denied dental treatment because, with a joint weekly income of pounds 79.41 (unemployment benefit of pounds 66.95 plus pounds 12.46), the Benefits Agency informed us that each of us had been assessed as being able to pay pounds 43.02 towards any one course of dental treatment. It wouldn't take a genius to work out that that ability is a figment of someone's peculiar imagination.

Name and address withheld