NHS Dentists - RIP?

Toothsmith

Just found THIS in the Manchester Evening News.

And THIS from Birmingham

And THIS From a local paper in Surrey

And THIS from Tameside

And THIS From Wales

All in tonight's local papers.

As I predicted a few months ago, it really is beginning to hit the fan now.

catford

My 2 boys,aged 7 &5yrs have been seeing the dentist that my wife goes to. He is good with them, and they dont mind seeing a dentist. Up till now there has been no charge to us, but we are now going to have to pay £10 each for a check-up.
If I can find a localish NHS dentist to take them,will their treatment be free ?? The wifes dentist is private!

sarahluv

catford wrote:

My 2 boys,aged 7 &5yrs have been seeing the dentist that my wife goes to. He is good with them, and they dont mind seeing a dentist. Up till now there has been no charge to us, but we are now going to have to pay £10 each for a check-up.
If I can find a localish NHS dentist to take them,will their treatment be free ?? The wifes dentist is private!

yup kids' treatments on the nhs are free.

i have a nhs dentist round the corner and i can get an appointment at a week's notice!

Fleago

Those links posted by Toothsmith are shocking! Makes me realise how lucky I am! I'm very fortunate in that I can afford my Denplan; but what of people who can't and are unable to find an NHS dentist? How shortsighted of the politicians! Poor dental health can lead to other physical problems, so there are cost ramifications for other sectors of the NHS in this situation :mad:

It seems to me that dentistry isn't really seen as important by those in power and their attempts to "reform" the system could be considered to be tinkering for the sake of appearing to be doing something but having no will to actually make the system work for the benefit of the taxpayers (which of course includes the dental staff themselves!). We must surely be heading towards a nation where a goodly proportion of the population will have teeth like collapsing tombstones through no fault of their own. :eek: I know the NHS is a bottomless money pit, but surely something as basic as readily available dental treatment, which we all need, should be one of the priorities?

Fleago

Toothsmith

catford wrote:

My 2 boys,aged 7 &5yrs have been seeing the dentist that my wife goes to. He is good with them, and they dont mind seeing a dentist. Up till now there has been no charge to us, but we are now going to have to pay £10 each for a check-up.
If I can find a localish NHS dentist to take them,will their treatment be free ?? The wifes dentist is private!

Is it worth risking that relationship for 2x £10 twice a year about the same price as one Playstation game.

Your dentist has probably done this because the new NHS contract will require him/her to see essentially healthy patients yearly, or even less. A lot can go wrong with kids teeth in a year.

pandaonmyshoulder

On Tuesday we travelled 18 miles each way to get registered with an nhs dentist. Our dentist has gone ont Denplan and although my assessment worked out as a mthly £15 my OH was much more and with 4 children the dentist said he isn't sure about premuims for the kids but he isn't treating them on nhs either. So Dentist guessed that IF we could have Denplan for the whole family it would be over £100 pmth. We get wftc etc. so our income isn't high, £100 is a lot each month to us. Don't get me wrong I beleive dental health is important but at that price each month it isn't affortable. And no before anyone asks I wouldn't pay that much for a playstation game either :mad: :mad:

Toothsmith

Did you consider registering the kids privately, and just you and your husband going to the NHS place?

I understand your problem. I have families who have above average numbers of kids too. My kids plan prices are much cheaper, but still I feel for those families, as you rightly say it does add up.

In a way I am a bit lucky in that one of the companies I mentioned earlier has set up a 4 surgery practice just up the road from me, so they do have an alternative.

This doesn't ease my mind though, as I know the basis that that alternative will work on, and it is not going to be run for the betterment of the oral health of it's patients.

In Birmingham, the dentists have got together and the majority of them are refusing to have anything to do with the new contract. They are conducting a poster and letter campaign and they are encouraging their patients to write to MPs. It is having serious effects.

As I said, I think the current model for NHS dentistry has been flawed ever since it was set up. It has been clinging onto life since the 1980s. It is not a bad thing that it is coming to an end, but there needs to be something in it's place, and a good preventative service for children is definitly a priority.

zar

Toothsmith wrote:

This, in my opinion, is what makes Denplan a win-win for us both...
This again is why it is of vital importance to pick a dentist with whom you intend to build a long-term relationship.

Hi, thanks for all your useful comments on the dentist threads, which I've just been going through! I notice you talk about long-term relationships in your post, getting advice from friends and family on which dentist to choose etc. Also that denplan will balance the bad years and the good years money wise.

I haven't had a dentist since I had to leave my child-only dentist when I was 18 (24 now) and have moved about the country quite a bit. How long are you tied into a denplan contract for? If you both from one end of the country to the other every couple of years will you just start paying another dentist or is it a national scheme? Or are these circumstances where PAYG is best - then if you don't get on with the dentist (no family etc. to ask for recommendations) you don't go back there.

One of the main reasons I don't have a dentist is that at my first uni town all the dentists left the nhs - Aberystwyth in Wales so nowhere's nearby! My next move to Yorkshire also had major dentist problems, and of course its the same everywhere now. So I was put off even trying to find one. But now I think I should be brave (both on the money front and the scary bit of actually going!) and try and register with a non-nhs dentist...

pandaonmyshoulder

Don't forget in the Denplan terms "they can increase your payments" so basicaly if you have a bad year and need lots of treatment your plan may go up! Bit like car insurance me thinks.

ps. My OH was hit by an asylum seeker 18mths ago and guess what???? he had no licence, no insurance etc.. and who ended up footing the bill????? us!!!!

Toothsmith

pandaonmyshoulder wrote:

Don't forget in the Denplan terms "they can increase your payments" so basicaly if you have a bad year and need lots of treatment your plan may go up! Bit like car insurance me thinks.

No it isn't.

Your category is base on points which are awarded to the fillings/crowns/dentures ets you already have in your mouth. If you have a bad year and a lot of these need replacing, your points total won't alter at all.

If something happens, and a tooth needs a filling where there wasn't one before, or an abscess strikes and needs root filling, then your points total will go up, and yes, especially if you are close to a 'borderline' your category may go up.

If a root filled tooth (With lots of points) gives up the ghost and needs taking out - your points total will go DOWN! If you are close to a lower border, that means it would get cheaper!

This is why it's in your interest as well as the dentists to keep things as healthy as possible.

There is of course the yearly fee increase. This is done by the dentist - NOT DENPLAN. In order to keep up with rising costs (Inflation in medical/dental provision has been running at about 4-6% over the last few years) the dentists have an opportunity once a year to raise ther prices.
My biggest yearly fee increase was about 13% a couple of years after I converted. This was due to adding an extra couple of surgeries at the practice, and bringing in hygienists. Both me and the patients think it was worth it, although I had a few grumbles at the time.