Asked for Dental NHS Scale and Polish.Told "Go to Hygienist at £25 extra"

boozercruiser

welshdent wrote: »

another situation that may be viewed as questionable in wales ... what if you are over 60 and your dentist says to you I am recommending a scale and polish to you but would like to charge you privately 9.50 to do this? What would your immediate feelings on the matter be?

Actually I am 67, and this already happened to me last year (but the charge would have been £25. He said that my gums looked a little unheathy and perhaps a trip to the Hygienist would be a benefit. It was then that I requested.....and got a Scale and Polish included in my £39 as I needed one filling as well.:D

If privately, and £9.50 my answere would have been exactly the same.:D

welshdent

boozercruiser wrote: »

Actually I am 67, and this already happened to me last year (but the charge would have been £25. He said that my gums looked a little unheathy and perhaps a trip to the Hygienist would be a benefit. It was then that I requested.....and got a Scale and Polish included in my £39 as I needed one filling as well.:D

If privately, and £9.50 my answere would have been exactly the same.:D

I didnt say as part of a band 2 I said as part of a check up if over 60 ... and in that instance you would be £2.50 worse off

Apollonia

boozercruiser wrote: »

The NHS Information Centre statistics show 382 dentists - nearly 2% of the total - earned more than £300,000 in the year.

Average take home pay for the 19,586 registered dentists was £89,062.

The Liberal Democrats said the figures would "astonish people" who were still seeking NHS dental care.
DENTISTS' EARNINGS
More than £300,000: 382
£275,000-£300,000: 113
£250,000-£275,000: 159
£225,000-£250,000: 228
£200,000-£225,000: 291
£100,000-£200,000: 4,418
£50,000-£100,000: 8,699
Figures for taxable income, after expenses have been deducted

The dentists contributing on this forum can't possibly be earning top salaries - they spend too much time on here helping people for free!

boozercruiser

Apollonia wrote: »

The dentists contributing on this forum can't possibly be earning top salaries - they spend too much time on here helping people for free!

Ruddy good point that:p

McKneff

boozercruiser wrote: »

Thank You All.

Yes, actually I have tried all of that in the past. Because we have worked all of our lives and are in receipt of small company pensions we cannot claim a thing.
No Pension Credit, No Council Tax Relief. Nothing.
If I had never worked I would get the lot. FREE.

Join the Club BC, it incences me, to be honest............
ooooh dont get me started.:rotfl:

boozercruiser

Now to today. He replaced the filling which had come out with a different type which he said had more 'sticky' in it, but may fail sooner.

It was either that......or a Crown for £175 (around that I think) or just take the tooth out (it's right at the back) when it starts to give trouble.

Regarding todays Scale and Polish. Well, it was one I suppose, but not as I know it Jim.

He just used a drill to go around the outside edges in between each tooth, front and back. Not very nice at all. He didn't use a paste which I always used to have, and then a rotery rubber whatsit to go over all of the front and back of the teeth surface.

When he had finished I was going to ask him "What about the Polish"....but I had given up by then!

Also, with this bloke, not once did he ask me to swill my mouth out until he finished, and that included the filling.

He also did that with my 3 fillings a couple of weeks ago and to my mind had me holding my mouth open with the suction thing going for the whole time. This got extremely uncomfortable holding ones mouth open for what must have been pushing a half an hour, without once being asked to swill the mouth out.

Is this really the new way my Dentist friends may I ask?

This is in spite of the fact that he knows that I have had a Bovine Aortic Heart Valve replacement some 8 years ago.

I asked about Amoxecylyn Penicillan which I always used to take one hour before Dental treatment and he said "No, under new guidlines this is not required."

SO.....one way or another, I am still not very happy with this crappy Dentist.

Then his helper says, O.K. make an appointment for 6 months time.

No way hozey.......12 months at the very earliest for me, and then perhaps I might have an English Dentist who might subscribe to the old values that I remember.

Best Regards to all.

Toothsmith

To start with, he's right about the amoxycillin. NICE guidelines changed about 18 months ago, and now dentistry is not considered a risk factor for endocarditis. About time too, really, as for several years now the evidence has been pointing towards the chances of a fatal allergic reaction from 3g of amoxicillin is far greater than the risk of endocarditis from routine (or even not so routine) dentistry.

You may be interested to know that my surgery doesn't even have anywhere to spit! They're terribly unhygienic things, and have a whole raft of regulations governing them that, frankly, I could do without!

I woosh round the mouth with my water spray at the end, and my nurse hoovers up all the debris. It's far less messy that a patient trying to do it, especially with half a numb face. My patients seem well trained to accept that now.

The number of times I've had people dribble all down themselves, or gob a mouthful over the nurse, or over the floor. Then there's the patients who have to stop every to minutes because a tiny bit of debris has touched their soft palate, and the patients who dutifully finished of the whole cupful in 5ml sips rinsing each sip round for 3 mins as if it were a fine claret!!........

I'm much better off without it, and all the patients that 'need' this palava simply go and waste someone elses surgery time!!

Good luck in your hunt b.c. your ideal dentist IS out there, but someone needs to pay for all that time you want, and that someone is no longer the D.o.H. They pay for access. Not results.

boozercruiser

Toothsmith wrote: »

To start with, he's right about the amoxycillin. NICE guidelines changed about 18 months ago, and now dentistry is not considered a risk factor for endocarditis. About time too, really, as for several years now the evidence has been pointing towards the chances of a fatal allergic reaction from 3g of amoxicillin is far greater than the risk of endocarditis from routine (or even not so routine) dentistry.

You may be interested to know that my surgery doesn't even have anywhere to spit! They're terribly unhygienic things, and have a whole raft of regulations governing them that, frankly, I could do without!

I woosh round the mouth with my water spray at the end, and my nurse hoovers up all the debris. It's far less messy that a patient trying to do it, especially with half a numb face. My patients seem well trained to accept that now.

The number of times I've had people dribble all down themselves, or gob a mouthful over the nurse, or over the floor. Then there's the patients who have to stop every to minutes because a tiny bit of debris has touched their soft palate, and the patients who dutifully finished of the whole cupful in 5ml sips rinsing each sip round for 3 mins as if it were a fine claret!!........

I'm much better off without it, and all the patients that 'need' this palava simply go and waste someone elses surgery time!!

Good luck in your hunt b.c. your ideal dentist IS out there, but someone needs to pay for all that time you want, and that someone is no longer the D.o.H. They pay for access. Not results.

Thanks for your further input Toothsmith. So now I know the reason why there are so many unhappy NHS Dental Patients out there!;)

Oh! and my ideal NHS Dentist IS out there. I left him behind in Northampton 7 years ago.

He is certainly NOT to be found amongst the hodge podge of foreign Dentists I have had to endure while they spend a few months working for Denticare.:mad:

boozercruiser

McKneff wrote: »

Join the Club BC, it incences me, to be honest............
ooooh dont get me started.:rotfl:

YES...we are in that Boat. We have worked all of our lives and have small Company Pensions AND WE STILL pay some tax.......cannot claim Pension Credit or Council Tax (£1,285 a year) relief or any Benefits at all. So I we still pay full whack for Dental Care.

If I had NEVER WORKED I would get the lot FREE.:mad:

No doubt when Toothsmith and Welshdent where looking after the NHS lot he saw all the "I WILL NOT WORK" lazt bl**ders being able to pay NOTHING for treatment.

welshdent

I should imagine that even the dentist of 7 years may have found that the new contract may have altered his practice. re my comments about a check up and private scale and polish if over 60 ... you are entitled to a free check up ... and nothing else. ... as soon as you have an x ray, clean, application of fluoride the charge goes back up to 12 for you ... unless you have a private one for an agreed fee ... hence private scale and polish for the price suggested. I know people that will charge £4 for an x ray rather than the full 12 and the only people missing out are the LHB