Dental Insurance Cost Cutting Plan Article Discussion Area

Toothsmith

grinner1 wrote:

1/ I have had 1 NHS Exam for £15.50, however I am not happy with the quotes for the further work, whether private or NHS options.
Can I now go get a second exam from another NHS Dentist, again paying a£15.50 fee, or can I now only have a private exam? Having a second exam seems to be the only way of getting another quote for the same work.
2/ Can registered NHS Dentists opt out from items in the band lists, in this case it was root work in band 2? Essentially, whilst a metal CAP could be done in the £189 band, the root work was an additional £140, and the post £75.00!
I hope some of you guys pick up this post, I apologise it may not quite have followed the thread, but I am struggling to get this advice elsewhere.

1. You can go to another NHS dentist and pay the £15.50 for an examination.

2. Dentists who accept NHS patients have to provide everything that patient needs (NEEDS - not necessarily everything they WANT) on the NHS. The dentist may NOT pick and choose which items they provide on the NHS.

Root canal treatment is a band 2 treatment (The same as ordinary fillings or extractions). Yes, it is a crap system, and totally unfair to the dentist who gets the same reward for a treatment 10 times more time consuming and complex, BUT - the dentist signed the contract, and therefore must abide by it.

If the dentist refuses to do the root filling on the NHS, a complaint to the PCT is perfectly in order.

grinner1_2

Thank you Tooth smith. Can I ask, are you absolutely sure...as I may well take this issue further.

Toothsmith

100%

That dentist is breaking the terms of his NHS contract.

The treatment plan you have described should all take place in the £189 Band 3 level.

That is because of the crown. If it were just the fillings & root fillings, it would be in Band 2 at £42.40

iglimpse

Our long suffering dentist has just gone private. Found out this week it is going to cost us (2 adults and 3 kids) £60 per month for basic cover / treatment (kids teeth are all excellent, ours - well...) We are all sad because he really was like a family friend.

Just this week, have managed to get another NHS dentist. Called local PCT and apparently you need to call regularly to find out who is suddenly taking on new patients. I have not had the time to work out all the costings but I just knew we could not afford that fee per month. Are there any alternatives because I do always strive for quality not quantity?

kevtrader

My bottom jaw is bigger than my top jaw so my front teeth are behind my bottom teeth and I've been told I might need braces. I've been told the braces would be in the region of several thousand pounds if I went with them but is there any way I could reduce the bill?

Thanks

laffaklad

I've just found a pretty good dental insurance plan from AXA PPP Healthcare called Dental Cashplan Plus. For £8.50 a month you are covered for all NHS treatment including checkups, extractions, scale & polish etc and there are no forms for your dentist to sign. All you do is fill in a claim form and post it off with the receipt that you get from the dentist.

It seems like too good a deal to let pass by.

iglimpse

Re Kevtrader post.

Have you actually had an opinion on your problem? If it is a problems with your jaw, causing your teeth to underbite then it maybe that jaw surgery is required (this also depends on age). Normally some bone is taken out of the bottom jaw to correct the problem, although I am well aware that it is not as simple as that.

Depending how severe your problem is, braces may not make any difference. If jaw surgery is required, that is NHS work and therefore you would not pay. If you do not have a dentist, (have you contacted your local PCT to ask who is taking patients?), you might consider asking your GP to refer you to a maxillo facial surgeon for a full assessment. Even if surgery is not suitable, you should not have to pay for complex treatment that is not cosmetic. I hope any dentists here could advise further

Charles_Glide

Having read the comments, and done some research into dental work overseas, these were my findings:

Issues with dental treatment in the UK:

high costs (major work can cost many thousands of pounds)
many dental treatments not available on the NHS
growing waiting lists for NHS dentistry
lack of NHS dentists (in Hampshire for instance dropped from 565 to 431 last year)
lack of training in new dentists
overseas dentists being drafted in to fill the gaps in the UK
dentists not taking on new NHS customers
private work up to 7x as expensive as NHS work
only 44% of adults and 60% of children were registered with an NHS dentist last year on average with large regional variations (36% of adults in London)
queues form when a new NHS dentist opens

Some of the benefits of going abroad

much cheaper (one third of the cost of private treatment in Hungary)
Patient oriented service
Patients can have a holiday at the same time
Multiple visits can be accomodated within a holiday easily
Low cost airfares now available
cheaper living costs

The Issues with going abroad:

Confidence in the dentist
Knowledge of the dental options available
Language barriers
Multiple visits may be required
Quality of the dental materials used
Emergency backup
The need by the client to have a trusted and recommended dentist
Specification of what needs to be done before you go

I connect people who need dentistry work undertaken with our personally tested dentist in Hungary.

Details can be found at: https://www.dentist-in-hungary.co.uk

silverfoxuk

I'm just back from a visit to the Hygenist (£38.50). I'm a bit of a coffee addict so my teeth tend not to stay (natural) white for too long. I clean twice a day with a flouride toothpaste and floss a couple of times a week (I know it should be daily) - is there anything else I could do to help my teeth keep their sort of natural whiteish colour rather than coffee brown? Should I use a mouth rinse/wash? Or/and use a 'whitening' toothpaste?

LittleJo

Hi,
An electric, well battery, toothbrush sorted mine out.
Jo