Dentists - plan or no plan

worto03

Wasn't really sure where to post this but paying monthly for treatment is kind of insurance isn't it? - well feel free to move it if need be anyway.

anyway I've just been to the dentists for the first time in 4 years & plan to make a proper go of it this time. I'm happy to go at least once a year & to pay for any treatments needed.

My question is they have offered me 2 choices & I can see a 3rd.

I have already paid £37 for an initial checkup & registration.

1st chioce (what they reccomended for me) = pay £8.60 a month
which includes 2 checkups a year & 2 cleans a year & any x-rays needed as well as 20% off any treatments needed.

2nd choice = pay £50 a year which includes 1 checkup & 1 clean a year but no discount. (this he said includes some sort of registration fee & insurance, I'm not sure what insuance maybe against him accidently hacking my head off?)

3rd choice (not mentioned by them) = I'm not sure why I can't simply pay for my treatment & pay each time I go? this would cost £37.50 for each filling but would save me the £50 a year (that doesn't seem to include much) then I could just go when I feel like it & pay the full price like I would do on the £50 a year plan anyway?

20% discount off a filling is only £7.50 & I currently need 2 fillings. I'm thinking between choice 2 & 3 at the moment but they did point out that if I need any other work done in the future that 20% might make a big diference. Could I not just change my plan then?

what would you\do you do?

the background you don't really need to read bit

Oh I'm 29 by the way & the reason I have not been for 4 years (or maybe a tad more) is because my 1st dentist quoted me £35 quid then sent me an invoice for over £200 then I joined another dentist who was struck off for doing excess work that was not neccessary on patients. After this I had some mistrust issues & only really went now because a tooth is hurting!

Cheers,
Steve.

Fritha_2

I spotted your other post and thought I'd give my opinion here.

I'm not overly fond of dentists and was in a similar place to you a year ago. I hadn't been to the dentists for ages and had to go becuase my tooth hurt. I decided to join their plan (£15 a month for me (in a private practice, I'm terrified of dentists and had to find a nice one!), 2 check ups, 4 hygenist visits a year and 10% off everything) I worked out the numbers and found that if I'd had to pay each time I went for all of those I'd be spending more than I was on the plan so that maths helped me. Work out how much you'd pay each visit (if you weren't on a plan): remember check ups, scale and polish, x rays and fillings. That will help you see which of 1,2 or 3 is a better option :-)

What swung it for me was that my dentist is a really lovely chap ad I completely trust him. I decided that I had to make the effort to go regularly to him and if I was paying £15 a month and didn't go I would be struck down by MSE lightening!

You'd have to speak to your dental surgery about changing plans etc. But essentially you should remember that they recommended you should go to the dentists every six months, and I reall think unless you have fabulous teeth that you keep meticulously clean you should go twice a year!

Good luck with your decision Steve.

worto03

cheers,

someone at work has since mentioned denplan which is £13 a month but she doesn't have to pay for any treatments at all.

She had a root filling type thing last year which was about £250 & had to pay nothing, on my £8 a month plan I'd still have to pay about 200 quid!

I think I may pay for this treatment outright tomorrow then not join anything at all then a year later join the denplan (which is a diferent dentists)

or

join the 8 quid a month for a year & see how I get on then review after a year......

anyway cheers for the reply,
still thinking & in pain,
Steve.

molerat

We were offered £15 per month each which covered most treatments, but there were an awful lot which were not covered, which I thought was expensive so opted for a self finance plan. Put the £30 per month into our budget account. That is £360 per year. Have been doing this for 3 years now and our total bill for this period has been about £250 which means we are £800 up. If you have got enough spare cash to cover an expensive treatment in the early period this is a good way to finance your dentistry.

Tiggs_2

i havent been for 10 years...never had any teeth probs at all.....decided to go along to a local practice that just opened for a laugh and needed £800 of treatment (mostly fillings that werent that bad but may as well get done)

Figured £800 every 10 years is pretty cheap so i'll pop back in another 10.....also got him to do loads at once so dont have to faff about (not fussed by the pain so may as well get it all done in one bash!)

worto03

sounds like a plan

I'm gonna just pay for the treatment this morning then put £10 a month in a savings account (I'm sure there's one I don't use anymore somewhere with 20 odd quid in to start me off)

If I need treatment & the account won't cover it at least it'll give me a load towards it (which is all the 20% was doing anyway)



Thanks for the advice,
Steve.