NHS Dentist Charges

**MissL2**

Hi

Was hoping someone could help me please. I went to the dentist (NHS) the other week for a checkup was literally sat in the chair for 5 minutes. The dentist said I needed 3 fillings and that I needed to book in for these to be done on a different day. He said it would cost around £45 for all 3 (band B treatment). Got to reception and she charged me £16ish for the consultation.

I am due to go tomorrow for all 3 fillings. Looking on the dh website it says that I should only be charged once for a complete course of treatment which is band B at £45ish- I'm just a bit confused as I would have thought the initial consultation that I was charged £16 for would have been part of this treatment. The exact wording is:

Depending on what you need to
have done, you should only ever
be asked to pay one charge for
each complete course of treatment
– either Band 1, Band 2 or Band 3
treatment – even if you need to
visit your dentist more than once to
finish it. You will not be charged for
individual items within the course

of treatment.

OH is also a bit concerned that they are doing all 3 at once- from reading this I have intrepted it that I could get two done tomorrow and go back (say the week after) to finish it off? Am I wrong in thinking this?

any help would be appreciated!

Thanks

Lx

larmy16

You will find that you will pay the difference between the £16 and £45, not both amounts unless someone else knows otherwise.

**MissL2**

Thank you so much- that's what I was thinking. Will ask the receptionist before I go in. Arrrrggggghhhh I'm dreading it!

Lx

Paparika

where's the toothfairy when you need him

esio_trot

I'm not sure about the charges, though, if it helps you to work it out, I've been going through a course of treatment just now. Had an initial consultation fee at £4.40 (think they forgot to charge for x-rays), and a further appointment yesterday where I got two fillings (amalgamam I think, the metal ones) and an extraction of a wisdom tooth which cost £41 odds. The rest will cost significantly more because I've opted for white fillings :eek:

on a similar note, I wouldn't think that getting three fillings done at once should be such a big deal, I had two and an extraction yesterday. I wasn't given any particular painkillers, took a dose of ibuprofen and co-codamol last night and I haven't needed anything this morning (and I'm a big scaredy cat at the dentist and have a fairly low pain threshold!)

tizhimi

Three fillings is no big deal unless they are really deep.

HannahIOW

esio trot, out of interest how much extra is it for white fillings? I will be wanting these, not that I've found an NHS dentist yet lol.

silvercar

You can't get white fillings on the NHS unless its for front teeth.

ClaireLR

silvercar wrote: »

You can't get white fillings on the NHS unless its for front teeth.

I had a white filling a few weeks ago on the NHS - it didn't cost any extra but I didn't request it, he just did it. Since then though I've had problems (i.e. pain) which another dentist has since told me have been caused by this white filling - apparently they can expand and retract when eating/drinking hot and/or cold food causing pain. I was given the choice to have root canal treatment or the tooth removed, am going for the latter on Saturday :eek:

username456

Whenever I've been and had treatment, I've been charged the check-up fee (£16) and then after the treatment I pay the difference between that and the £40 band

jugglebug

esio_trot wrote: »

I'm not sure about the charges, though, if it helps you to work it out, I've been going through a course of treatment just now. Had an initial consultation fee at £4.40 (think they forgot to charge for x-rays), and a further appointment yesterday where I got two fillings (amalgamam I think, the metal ones) and an extraction of a wisdom tooth which cost £41 odds. The rest will cost significantly more because I've opted for white fillings :eek:

on a similar note, I wouldn't think that getting three fillings done at once should be such a big deal, I had two and an extraction yesterday. I wasn't given any particular painkillers, took a dose of ibuprofen and co-codamol last night and I haven't needed anything this morning (and I'm a big scaredy cat at the dentist and have a fairly low pain threshold!)

Scotland has a different system to England and Wales. The charges are not comparable in any way.
There are only 3 fees in England and Wales (They are not even the same between the 2 countries) Bands 1, 2 and 3 (There is a 4th band which has the same fee as band 1 which caters for emergencies)

As for the fee of 16 quid being charged at the 1st appointment then that is correct as you have received items which fall into band 1.
Once the fillings are done that makes it band 2 and the difference should be charged.