Are all children entitled to nhs treatment?

[missm29]

My kids currently have a dentist that will see them on the nhs providing me and otherhalf go there as private patients, we have not been for a few years as we can't afford to, the last time i went they said i needed £500 worth of work, i'd just had a baby so would have been entitled to free treatment if i could get an nhs dentist.

Any this dentist isn't local anymore as we have moved and its a real hassle to get there, when i tried to get a local dentist they all said they would see the kids on the nhs providing me and otherhalf registered as private and had check ups first, but we can't afford it.

Our current dentist is now saying unless me and otherhalf go and have our check ups/treatment they won't see the kids on the nhs anymore. I thought all kids were entitled to nhs treatment and if the parents went to the dentist had nothing to do with it. Do me and otherhalf really need to pay for checkups just to get the kids in somewhere, theres no way we can afford to have any treatment, and whats to say the dentist doesn't now insist the parents go every 6 months or they will remove the kids.

Any advice please? hope i made sense.

[kitschkitty]

Everybody is entitled to an NHS dentist (though I do appreciate it can be near impossible to find one). Sounds to me like the dentists are being unfair in saying they won't take on your children as NHS patients unless you their parents sign up as private patients. Do your council not hold a list of NHS practices in your area? In my city my OH asked the local health centre's dentist if they could take him on, but they could only provide him with emergency treatment as they told him they only had spaces available for the children's NHS dentist (not adults) so maybe you could find out if there are health centres in your area with a children's dentist?

[fuzzybear01]

Check this page here as it says that dentists cannot only agree to treat children on the basis of their parents paying.

http://www.nhs.uk/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/DentistsFAQs.aspx

Information is near the bottom of the page

[missm29]

Thanks for the replies, i did come across that page after i posted and i will phone the dentist tomorrow and see what they say. My 5yr olds second lot of teeth are coming through behind his front milk teeth, so he has two rows of teeth, the milk ones aren't even loose, if i can't get him a dentist i don't know what to do.

[Toothsmith]

This sort of this is specifically forbidden by the new NHS contract of 2006.

If the practice has a contract to see children on the NHS, then they must see ANY child on the NHS.

Be aware that PCTs are phasing out child-only contracts though, and so dentists are being told that if they have an NHS contract they must see ANYBODY on the NHS.

This is creating quite a lot more full private conversions.

If your dentists has specifically said to you that he will only see your kids as NHS patients if you attend as a private patients, then you have grounds for a complaint to the local PCT.

(This is all assuming you live in England or Wales - different rules apply for Scotland and N.I.)