Questions about Dental crowns

SandC

alison999 wrote: »

I work at a dentist and have done for the past 9 years. If a patient has private work and, comes in a week or two after with problems it will usually be sorted free of charge more as a 'good will gesture'.

On the NHS if you needed that veneer recementing every day it would cost you (technically) £16.20 every day to have it recemented, because that IS the charge for it.

It doesnt mean that every time you see the dentist for a emergency appointment that there WILL be a charge though, even on the NHS. If you just get a perscription then there wont be that charge BUT if he/she takes xrays then there will be a charge of £16.20 because this IS the charge for the service on the NHS.

Fair enough. Mine was actually 11months after!

alison999

SandC wrote: »

Fair enough. Mine was actually 11months after!

LOL then you're very lucky! theres a dentist where i work that doesnt charge for everything that i can - even check ups!

alison999

Toots wrote: »

I had a crown and went back 2 or 3 times over va 3-4 month period as I had pain in it. The dentist then replaced the crown again and also did some root canal work and I was not charged for that (NHS dentist) as it came under the same course of treatment and was classed as after care.

or the 1 year guarentee;)

kitschkitty

The NHS dental charges guide states:

You will only have to pay one charge for each course of treatment – even if you need to visit your dentist more than once to finish it.
If you need more treatment within the same or lower charge band, for example an additional filling, within two months of completing a course of treatment, you do not have to pay anything extra.

So you should not have to pay any extra fee as the course of treatment isn't complete if the tooth is still troubling you.

I know some pain after dental treatment isn't uncommon, but normally it clears up within a week or so, it's possible that you've got an abscess that needs treating, or it could of course be something else but your dentist needs to take a look and sort it out for you.

alison999

An emergency appointment carries its own charge of £16.20 (at the moment).

The course of treatment IS complete if the dentist hasnt planned anymore treatment for you, and doesnt expect you to return. Otherwise he/she would never get paid if they kept all the courses open.

kitschkitty

Well the guidance says within 2 months. I assume this is as the dentist should have identified all the work needing to be done in that course of treatment and ensured it was completed so that the patient no longer has a problem.

After all if you pay to get anything fixed you don't expect to be charged twice if it isn't fixed and needs more work done.

SuziQ

My NHS Dentist has had to see my twice over the last 7 weeks to redo a filling that was done before Christmas which has continued to give pain. I have not been charged-and yes these were emergency appointments that I was slotted in for. I think it's grossly unfair if you have to pay a charge when the work may not have been done correctly in the first place.

alison999

If you have work done IN THE SAME BAND OF TREATMENT within two months then there will be no charge to the patient but hte dentist still collects UDA points, and, so still gets paid BUT if you pay the band two charge and a month later needs treatment that is band 3 then you will have to pay the whole of the band 3 charge.

It can be quite confusing and I do understand/feel where patients are coming from with these charges. It was much better when dentists just got paid for what they did.

mda99das

Alison,

This is not strictly true.
In the case of a Band 4 another £16.20 is applicable.

And continuation of treatment is disallowed following urgent treatment/ issue of prescription, suture removal etc etc.

We have had this problem on the schedules, and have checked with the DPB after resending the claims.

eg, under a course of treatment that requires a filling and an extraction.

Extraction and filling done. Claim sent.
Pt returns with dry socket 3 days later. Urgent treatment £16.20

5 weeks later pt returns with another broken tooth.

If you were to EDI that as a continuation and not charge the pt the claim will get rejected, as continuation of treatment is not applicable following an urgent course of treatment.

It would be better to charge £16.20 and get 1.2 UDAs than to do the work for free and get no UDAs.

Deals_2

not metal (white one please!) please . thanks