Comments for Dentist Forum

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Jane

Jane — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 22:17:40 +0000

My NHS dentist has refused to scale and polish my teeth and says I need to book in with their hygienist at a cost of around £45. Being on an extremely low income, I have not been able to afford this. I now find that they are treating problems caused by build up of plaque but won’t treat the cause. As I have been seeing this dentist for about 7 years, I now have terrible receding gums, awful gum disease, moving teeth and am at risk of losing a few. I look after my teeth as well as I can but am fed up with going for treatments that I wouldn’t need if they just took the few minutes to scale and polish my teeth. They have also removed old fillings, replaced them, then replaced them again a year or so later. They must be making a lot of money from the NHS by treating the end result but not the cause. Are they allowed to insist I see their expensive hygienist for a scale and polish? If so, then why are they allowed to accept NHS patients, who, by their very nature are usually skint and can’t afford the extra charges?

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Willco

Willco — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:20:07 +0000

My spending at the dentist since Christmas is £1300. This was for 3 gold inlays on back teeth. I am a private patient and my wife thinks i am being ripped off – Am I?

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by nicola

nicola — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:08:43 +0000

can anyone help i have been to dentist today and paid £16.20 for check up and xray they have phoned me and said i need to go back in 2 weeks for filling will i have to pay the band 2 charge or will it be band 2 charge minus the band 1 charge i have already paid would be grateful if someone could answer my question thank you

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Pete

Pete — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:02:33 +0000

I am an NHS dental patient. In a recent accident I broke a 3 tooth bridge, which was being anchored on teeth 6 & 8. Unfortunately tooth 8 was also broken in the accident. I have been told the alternative to a denture, is to have an implant inserted in to the tooth 8 gap and then have a bridge re-attached. This treatment will not be carried out by the NHS dentist and is far beyond my budget.
I also currently have a 3 tooth bridge anchored on teeth 9 & 11. Would it not be a possible treatment to have all 6 teeth bridged using 6, 9, & 11? This may not be the most ideal option, but if the treatment is covered under the NHS Scheme, it would at least be a something I could afford.

Comment on My NHS dentures don’t fit by admin

admin — Sat, 07 Aug 2010 05:59:56 +0000

He should never have accepted the denture in the first place if it rocked at the back as this sounds like a very poor fit. Then he accepted the repairs. So what should he do? It really depends on the time scale. From what you say it appears the denture cracked after 9 months but this may not be correct.

Write a letter to the practice and list your tale of woes and ask them what they are going to do about the cracked unusable denture.

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Tricia

Tricia — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:43:15 +0000

Just had £198 worth of treatment on my teeth (3 fillings and a crown) and asked if I could have a scale & polish. Mainly because there is discolouration near gums which I cannot get rid of myself. I have not had a S & P for years and this is a new practice I’m visiting.

Was told not on NHS unless they considered it necessary, which they didn’t. I was told I could have it done there privately at around £30 though. I don’t feel happy about this.

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by admin

admin — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:28:49 +0000

Richard

Have you been given a written treatment plan to cover all the work? If not ask for one immediately. See http://www.dentistforum.co.uk/nhs-dentistry/nhs-dental-treatment-plans/

This appears to me to be one course of treatment for which you should only pay £198. Is the dentist trying to make extra money by saying your wife’s treatment involves 2 treatment plans and 2 courses of treatment – this is not right. Take this further and complain in writing if necessary.

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Richard

Richard — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:07:10 +0000

My wife has decided to have a bridge fitted after a tooth came out and could not be refixed. The dentist has charged £198 for removing the broken tooth and fitting a temp plate with a copy tooth attached. He then wants her to wait 6 months for the gums to shrink and then charge her another £198 to fit the bridge. The charge schedule say £198 inc bridges.
How come she has to pay twice.

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by admin

admin — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:23:27 +0000

Hi Sarah

The dentist should have given your partner a written treatment plan – they are required to do so. It also seems odd that at the first visit he was told he needed 4 teeth removing then at the second visit it appears only one tooth needed extracting. So which course of treatment was correct. Does your partner need a second opinion?

Anyway – the night guard. Yes this unfortunately takes it into Band 3. Anything that is lab made is in Band 3.

What would I do? I would complain in writing to the clinic. The grounds for the complaint? No written treatment plan.

Comment on NHS dental charges in England by Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:20:36 +0000

My partner has just registered with a dentist, he had a check up and the dentist told him that he needed to have two teeth taken out, as well as having two wisdom teeth that have not yet cut through removed, he also suffers from teeth grinding so the dentist took a mould for a night gaurd.
They said that this would come to a total of ££198. (Band 3)

he has returned for his teeth to be taken out earlier today, they actually just removed 1 tooth, and gave him the night gaurd which is a soft silicone type, and charged him the band 3 price without booking any further appointments.

He was not given a treatment plan at any time.

when he enquired as to how the treatment falls in to band three the receptionist showed him that it was the mouth guard that took it in to band three.

Is this correct, as if he had known that it was the mouth gaurd would effectively cost £150 he would have probably not have had this part done, or found somewhere to get one for much less money.