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

jugglebug

I see where you are coming from, but just remember the NICE guidelines came after other research, they were not the drivers of it.
The guidance on your card came from the "British Society of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy."
This is the body whose advice we had been following for as long as I can remember.
Then they changed their guidance to say no antibiotic cover.
This then lead to a hissy fit as those opposed spat their dummies out and started writing letters to the various journals.
This then led to NICE being called in as referee so whilst we speak about following NICE guidelines they actually came late to the party.

boozercruiser

t0rt0ise wrote: »

I used to see a private dentist and for the cost of £40 I'd get a check up and a scale and polish. Then I moved to London and saw a dentist offering NHS treatment to new patients so I signed up and got a check up.

He said that "although I needed a scale and polish he didn't do it any more"!

Unless I missed someones point of view here, his NHS Dentist has said quite categoricaly that "he did not do Scale and Polishes anymore."

Is he in breach of his NHS contract, and perhaps even the Law by saying this?

Just a "YES"................."YES" or a "NO............."NO" will do for now.;)

After all, it is Christmas time.:)

tirednewdad

YES- If the person has to pay privately for the scale and polish
NO- If someone else in the practice does it (like a hygenist), but for no extra charge. Or if the patient just has staining on the teeth but no calculus/tartar build up to remove.

brook2jack

t0rt0ise wrote: »

And to keep being told that bleeding gums is a sign of a problem drives me nuts.. when I have a count of 5 or so my gums just bleed spontaneously, and slightly above that they will bleed with a bit of pressure. Nothing to do with hygiene and the dentist always admits after examination that actually my oral health is fine.

</rant>

This is the same poster so it would appear a scale and polish is not necessary to secure dental health. Their bleeding disorder though would probably necessitate a referral if they are getting spontaneous bleeding with a very low platelet count.

boozercruiser

tirednewdad wrote: »

YES- If the person has to pay privately for the scale and polish
NO- If someone else in the practice does it (like a hygenist), but for no extra charge. Or if the patient just has staining on the teeth but no calculus/tartar build up to remove.

"He said that although I needed a scale and polish he didn't do it any more so I had to pay £49 to his hygeinist. So I'd gone from £40 private care to £65.50 for NHS care. I'm not best pleased with this"

So, even though he was told by HIS Dentist that he NEEDED a scale and polish.....he had to pay EXTRA to see HIS hygienist to have that done.

Guilty as charged!;) Take him down!

boozercruiser

So after my check up on 8th December 2010 I at last have my appointment tomorrow the 6th January 2011 to have two rear of front teeth fillings done. I understand that the fillings are to fill in a couple of chips rather than because of decay........

Followed by a rear tooth extraction on 18th January 2011. (Blimey....I reckon I am almost due another check up by now!)

I intend asking her what my BPE score is, and what is she going to do in respect of the gum disease she has advised me that I have?

Perhaps she can start with this?.....

non-surgical periodontal treatment including root-planing, deep scaling, irrigation of periodontal pockets and subgingival curettage and all necessary scaling and polishing!

To be continued..........................!

Fork86

boozercruiser wrote: »

So after my check up on 8th December 2010 I at last have my appointment tomorrow the 6th January 2011 to have two rear of front teeth fillings done. I understand that the fillings are to fill in a couple of chips rather than because of decay........

Followed by a rear tooth extraction on 18th January 2011. (Blimey....I reckon I am almost due another check up by now!)

I intend asking her what my BPE score is, and what is she going to do in respect of the gum disease she has advised me that I have?

Perhaps she can start with this?.....

non-surgical periodontal treatment including root-planing, deep scaling, irrigation of periodontal pockets and subgingival curettage and all necessary scaling and polishing!

To be continued..........................!

Just to clarify, there are 2 forms of gum disease. Gingivitis and Periodontitis. The latter would be treatable under the Band 2 charge as long as you had pockets of over 3.5mm, gums that have receded by approximately 7mm, or bone loss from between the roots of your molars (These are BPE ratings of 3, 4 and/or *)

If you have gingivitis, and no calculus/tartar, then you don't actually need a scale and polish, and definitely don't need 'non-surgical periodontal treatment', and the dentist is perfectly entitled to charge you for a hygiene clean should you 'want' a clean.

If you do however a bit of tartar, this should be covered under band 1 treatment.

Basically, if he says you have BPE's of 0's and 1's, unfortunately you'll have to pay privately for a scale and polish.

jugglebug

Fork,
i think you may be kicking the wasps nest with your post.
BC knows all that after this huge thread.
one of his points is that he has been told he has gum disease.
he also knows that treatment should be available on the nhs.
Therefore the need/want scenario that you describe doesn't apply. His dentist has diagnosed gum disease.
Now we all know that the hyg may very well be the best person to treat, and we also know they are often private only. However the doesn't change the nhs regs saying treatment is available.
Of course what we dont know is precisely what was / wasnt said in surgery etc, and as dental protection are find of telling us 70% of their workload comes from miscommunication at some point

boozercruiser

jugglebug wrote: »

Fork,
i think you may be kicking the wasps nest with your post.
BC knows all that after this huge thread.
one of his points is that he has been told he has gum disease.
he also knows that treatment should be available on the nhs.
Therefore the need/want scenario that you describe doesn't apply. His dentist has diagnosed gum disease.
Now we all know that the hyg may very well be the best person to treat, and we also know they are often private only. However the doesn't change the nhs regs saying treatment is available.
Of course what we dont know is precisely what was / wasnt said in surgery etc, and as dental protection are find of telling us 70% of their workload comes from miscommunication at some point

Thank both you and Fork. I am just literaly flying out of the door to keep my 12.00PM Dental Appointment.

As always what you have to say is very helpfull.:T

Wish me luck as I take my 500mg capsules of Amoxicillin and you wave me goodbye:D (Nice teeth them arn't they?:D

bob6000bob

I have been to my NHS dentist this morning for a check-up. I had lost track of my last visit and so had simply booked an appointment. I was surprised (not in a good way) to discover that I hadn't been to see them last year at all. This is very unusual and I could have sworn I went early in the year but obviously lost track.

Anyway, there were no problems with my teeth but some bleeding of the gums. The assistant couldn't quite work out how to enter my BPE scores so my attention was drawn to the figures. I had three score 2 (clearly not ideal) and one at zero.

I have been sent to the hygenist at a slightly eye watering cost of £48 with the comment that "no more than one trip should be necessary" but the slight suggestion that more visits might be required.

From the other posts I have read, for a BPE score of 2 this is an overreaction. Is the treatment justified by the fact that three quadrants are equally affected?

If not, what should I do?