My mum and I go to the same dentist. Me privately, her on the NHS

p1an0player

alison999 wrote: »

You're not the only two patients in the practice though are you? In between patients the surgery and equipment also has to be cleaned and sterilized, if he'd have done your filling there and then would he have had enough handpeices for the next patient that was ALREADY booked in for a filling?

Theres also only so much time in a day, you cant squeeze everyone in and do there treatment in one visit or the dentist and his/her team would be there all night.

Yes I take your point. Yet for my mum he did manage it.

My understanding is that private dentist fees are mainly based on time taken for routine work like this, I heard it was about £170 per hour to include the cost of the premises, assistant, reception etc. (Not that my dentist is transparent about it).

I don't think it would be good practice to deliberately stretch out over two appointments the time taken for a particular piece of dental work, purely in order to extract more money out of the customer. I'm not saying that's what happens, it's just what it looks like when I compare my experience to my mum's.

alison999

p1an0player wrote: »

Yes I take your point. Yet for my mum he did manage it.

My understanding is that private dentist fees are mainly based on time taken for routine work like this, I heard it was about £170 per hour to include the cost of the premises, assistant, reception etc. (Not that my dentist is transparent about it).

I don't think it would be good practice to deliberately stretch out over two appointments the time taken for a particular piece of dental work, purely in order to extract more money out of the customer. I'm not saying that's what happens, it's just what it looks like when I compare my experience to my mum's.

But you cant compare private treatment to NHS treatment. The dentist probably went that bit further for your mum since she is private, it isnt unusual, but he cant do it for every patient, your mum is paying for this type of service.

p1an0player

alison999 wrote: »

But you cant compare private treatment to NHS treatment. The dentist probably went that bit further for your mum since she is private, it isnt unusual, but he cant do it for every patient, your mum is paying for this type of service.

yes, but it is I who is private! maybe he just likes her

Toothsmith

Ahhhhh.

You think your Mum got the better service as all was done in the same day, whereas you have the inconvienience of having to come back again.

I would say he's just trying to get through his NHS work as 'efficiently' as possible whereas he takes his time with his private work.

The ultimate pay off of this should be that you would need to attend less overall with fewer broken fillings and problems.

alison999

p1an0player wrote: »

yes, but it is I who is private! maybe he just likes her

oh! i misread, then. some fillings take 10 minutes, others 30-40-50 minutes, it isnt always possible to squeeze certain treatments in. maybe your mums filling was a 10 minutes job, and if shes old/finds it hard to get around he might of just thought he was doing her a favour

ifyoure really unhappy why not call the practice and ask why your mum got treatment and you didnt? theyre the only ones that can give you the actual answer for your situation