Expensive Dental Treatment? - save thousands

Toothsmith

Read the question!

Can you get NHS care in France under EU rules?

Answer NO - You can get emergencies sorted out if you happen to be there when they strike, but not proper treatment.

EDIT - just realized it WAS your question.

Answer is still the same though. If a crown came off, the NHS would pay for it being put back on, if you were in pain you could reclaim the cost of getting out of pain etc etc. You couldn't go there to get a crown done and expect the NHS to pay for it.

No idea how you would go about it in terms of paying the dentist/claiming it back though.

Rachel71

Hello
Actually under the EU regs it wouldn't be the NHS paying if you had treatment in France. Rather, if you are in an EU country in an emergency you are entitled to what the residents get - eg if they get free treatment, you get free treatment. If they have to pay (say) 50% of any treatment, you have to pay 50% of any treatment. You're not entitled to anything more than the locals get.

In France you go to see a private dr or dentist of your choice and pay their fee. Provided the dr or dentist is "conventionne" (ie signed up with social security - vast majority of them are) you then claim back a percentage from CPAM (french healthcare social security people). In the case of dental work, the percentage is (I think) 70%; however you don't get back 70% of what you paid, rather you get 70% of what CPAM thinks you should be paying for a particular treatment (which is very low). EG I paid 750 euros for a crown. CPAM thinks that this should cost around 100 euros so they pay you around 70 euros. If you went to a cheaper dentist though (eg charging 300 euros) you would still get the 70 euros and even if you found someone to do it for the CPAM price (ie around 100 euros) you would still only get 70 euros ie you'd always have to pay at least 30% yourself. The CPAM tarifs (I think) are set by the government I mean, they're standard prices. You have to pay upfront and then your dentist gives you a form which you can send off to CPAM - but I think that this would only work if you lived in France cos you have to register with your local CPAM and I don't think that they would register you if you're not living in France - so suspect you would have to go via Newcastle.

Most French people have a mutuelle which is a top up insurance policy which pays the difference between CPAM tarifs and reality, although often not the full whack for things like dentists and opticians.

I think actually that there would be no difference in being charged for emergency stuff and other work in France - they would just charge you the full whack either way, and then I suppose maybe the distinction is made when you try to claim back the bit that is normally refunded by CPAM.

Incidentally I don't think that France is much cheaper than the UK as regards dental costs. I live in France and have had quite a lot of work done here in Paris and I think that its fairly similar to costs in south east of England - my crown was definitely 750 euros, then I had a root canal redone with a specialist which I think was 650 had some inlays which I think were 330 each, small white fillings 75 I think, checkup and clean 100 each I think. I think that the quality of the work I had was excellent though.

Sorry, forgot to say, wouldn't it be a bit inconvenient if something went wrong though? I was in loads of pain after one of the treatments (can't remember which, may have been the crown) and phoned up my dentist who faxed me a prescription which I then took straightaway to the pharmacy - couple of hours later after taking the pills I was fine - process would have been a lot more difficult if I was in UK say as I suppose UK chemists would probably not take a faxed French prescription.

Rachel71

Toothsmith

Thank you for that Rachel - very interesting.

The system France operates is very similar to what a lot of dentists in England would like to see our NHS dental service morph into.

With this sort of system EVERYBODY gets some benefit out of the NHS.

People can then choose if they want to spend their 'entitlement' at a cheap & cheerful dental practice - in which case they wouldn't have to pay much excess, or go to somewhere where the charges (and hopefully service) are much higher.

My impression of French dentistry has always been that the standard and charges were pretty comparable with the UK and other more developed EU contries, which is why I'm always baffled when people say it's cheaper.

Generally in the british media though, the private prices that are quoted are generally 'top end' whereas the reality is that there is a huge range of private practices in this country going from just above NHS prices to 'Hollywood'.

(I know of one practice in Birmingham that is pi**ing of it's local PCT by offering private treatment BELOW NHS prices!! - All the fee-paying patients needing small treatments are opting for that, which has reduced the amounts of patient charges the dentist has collected for the NHS - this could blow a serious hole in the NHS dental budget!).

My advice to anyone considering treatment abroad is to have a PROPER look round at what is available in this country. And to have enough money in reserve to be able to get any unforseen emergencies fixed locally (Which will be much more expensive if you are not a regular patient).

fran_from_willesden

Sorry if I've missed something...why will no one be registered with an NHS dentist from April? Is this the same for Scotland?
Sorry if this sounds stupid but does this mean paying private prices or just making sure you go regulaarly so you don't end up being struck off whatever register you may be on?

Toothsmith

It's an english thing (& welsh) so far. I think it's coming to S/land soon.

Basically, dentists aren't paid for patients 'on their books' any more. Because it's embarrassing for the Government how few are registered.

So, if no-one is registered - no problem any more.

A dentist is now only responsible for the patients under treatment. Once treatment is complete, they go out into limbo again.

Basically, the idea is that any patient can request NHS treatment from any dentist with an NHS contract. You're not a particular dentist's patient any more.

Brilliant if you're an unregistered patient who only pops along when you get a toothache, terrible if you're a regular patient who actually wants to look after your teeth, because now you have to compete for appointments with all the toothaches that would have been 'unregistered' before.

The hidden agenda (or not so hidden) is to push everybody who wants half decent dental care into the private sector.

Going regularly isn't really the answer, as the NHS is now telling patients they don't need to go regularly any more.

sabbykins

I have just decide to go private despite being entitled to NHS treatment. The reason for this is that my dentist of many years has retired, and his 4000+ patients were given about 1 months notice before they were left in the lurch!

I did manage to find an NHS dentist for myself, hubby and 2 children but she is awful she does everything so roughly and so fast and failed to notice i had a hole in my tooth at the last check-up last week despite me telling her i could stick my tongue in it!! WE have always looked after our teeth and so i am not going to let this awful woman neglect them. Also during replacement of a filling that had broken (several months ago) , she injected me, and then IMMEDIATELY proceeded to drill- it was excruciating i nearly had kittens :eek: I told her i could still feel it and so she injected again, waited about 10 seconds, started drilling and i could STILL feel everything so she injected again!!!! By the time i got home my whole head was numb! All she needed to do was wait for the 1st one to take effect.
Suffice to say, i am now terrified of going back and have found a private dentist, and have joined HSA dental plan.

Can anyone point me in the direction of general pricing for private dentists as i would like to have some idea how much it will cost me.

Thanks

Toothsmith

The pricing can depend on a great many factors.

There are some dentists in the private sector operating just above NHS prices, there are some way more expensive than that.

Generally, the cheaper a place is, the more patients that place will have to get through in order to meet the overheads. The dearer a place is, the more excellent you should expect the customer service and results to be.

You have to find the place that offers the service you want at a price you are prepared to pay. The way to successfully do that is to spend a bit of time and do a bit of legwork looking around at what's available.

The best way to start is by getting some recommendations from friends/family.

Your question above is a bit like asking 'How much is it to go to a resturant?'

Just because you've decided you want better than 'McDonalds', you've not only got 'Le Maison Snotty' to choose from.

There is a whole range of private practices at a whole range of price points. I'm sure you'll find one suitable, just choose wisely, and get one before anything major happens.

The very worse time to be looking for a dentist is when you have a toothache!