Dental Treatment Abroad

moomin_white

scotsbob wrote: »

There you go, some dentists in the UK can do whitening at European prices. Shows you how much those charging £400-500 are ripping us off for.

the dentists work at use the Britesmile whitening system, problem is the dentist has to pay Britesmile everytime they use the machine(and use a new Britesmile pack) and that costs them around £200 each time.
It's not as simple as you may think!

moomin_white

MFTC wrote: »

Thank you Toothsmith. The problem is you are part of the problem as a British Dentist: over priced, working at piece rate and churning out as many high profit fillings and extractions as possible. Your scare tactics are now old hat. I am not saying that we cannot accept any British Dentist as a honest broker but we know your interest lies in maintaining your position . Unfortunately for yourselves the public has a choice. As I explained, in my experience, the dentists in Poland are better educated, have the latest and most hygienic conditions;operate to rigorous European standards and sadly for British Dentists, give a more patient, better quality, much much much economically priced alternative. Vote with your feet British Public - you don't have to be ripped off any longer! You will not regret it. Thousands of Brits already have done what I did and received outstandingly better longer lasting treatment for an honest price.

one of the problems is that you are tarring all British dentists with the same brush.
the surgery i work at is amazing, high cross infection control standards, polite and highly trained staff, continual professional development and high standards of care. We spend time on every single patient, just a check up takes 15mins! (i've worked in NHS practices where a crown prep took 15mins...urgh) We use high quality laboratories and materials (this makes all the difference)

one of the problems is patients don't see the hidden costs - such as surgery rental, cost of hiring support staff(nurses, receptionists),dental material costs(put the work dental in front of something and suddenly you can charge 3 x the price!), electricity, professional fees, and on and on.

there are some dentists that are rip off merchants, but that goes for every trade out there. Just don't think we're all the same!

Strapped

LondonDiva wrote: »

www.nhs.uk

for lists of NHS dentists in England, if you have difficulties, please contact your local PCT (also searchable on the site for help).

I'm amazed by the number of people who've claimed not to be able to fidn a dentist, but when I ask tell me about the Daily Mail reports rather than their experiences.

If you don't want an NHS dentist, do some asking around for recomendations from those you know.

I had a polite (not quite row, but close) conversation with someone upset that the dentist wanted to charge £2000 for dental work. When I asked her what comparisons she had from other dentists and whether she felt the quality of the work / experience was better than other dentists she'd seen, she told me that she'd walked into the dentist at random. She couldn't be bothered to see what the quality or price was elsewhere, wanted full on orthodontic work and special behind teeth braces etc etc, but was concerned about the price not the work:rolleyes:

:mad:
People send thought, time and money choosing a car or mobile phone, but grudge a fraction of the effort on their health.

Moved here in March. Advised NO dentists currently accepting new NHS clients in the whole of this part of the county. Added my name to the only waiting list (for a practice 20 miles away). Still waiting to be accepted.

Lifesaver

No dentists taking NHS patients onto their lists in South Cumbria........and when one opened people queued from 3am.

I go to the Emergency Clinic who are good, but only deal with an aching tooth.

Appalling situation, in fact, I'm thinking of going to Hungary to get sorted - at least I'll get a holiday and treatment!

sheilavw

I went to my dentist for a check up last week (private) he is new. He was doing my checkup and said "Oh have you had some work done, its not on my records". I explained that I had had the bridge done in Turkey last August. He was really impressed that I paid £425 for 5 unit bridge and 2 extractions and confirmed it would have been closer to £1800. He said he didnt blame me if I could get it done at that price and asked me loads of questions like did I arrange it prior and how I found it over there.

donteatthat

Toothsmith wrote: »

He's not the demographic I target, certainly!!!

Nor me. One of the luxuries of private practice - you can choose who you treat.

nuttywoman

We`ve not had a nhs dentist for nearly a year now, and the ones local are`nt taking on any new patients!

nuttywoman

Forgot to say, also, i remember when i was younger, i`m in my 50`s now , when i started work in a factory, nearly all the people in their twenties and upwards had false teeth.One woman told me she`d had all her teeth out at 19.
Will we see more of this i wonder?

donteatthat

Yes possibly.
The NHS encourages extraction over root canal treatment, but it also doesn't encourage denture making! So we may be heading for more toothless peeps.

Toothsmith

donteatthat wrote: »

Yes possibly.
The NHS encourages extraction over root canal treatment, but it also doesn't encourage denture making! So we may be heading for more toothless peeps.

That would be true if the NHS dental service is going to be around long enough to do that sort of damage to people.

I think the future will be the death of NHS dentistry for all but toothaches in very deprived inner city areas.

Everyone else will have to make their own arrangements for dental treatment.

There is great resistance to this at the moment, as there is still a strong feeling of 'entitlement' to free or heavily subsidised dental treatment.

That is why this nonsense of 'saving money' by going abroad is a bit of a fad at the moment.

Once the reality sets in though, and people realise that low cost dentistry has gone the same way as free higher education, reliable busses, chiropody, and small local Post Offices, they will look around, and see that some of the insurance products out there at the moment really are good value for money, and, so long as you take them out before your mouth gets into such a state that it will cost thousands to put right, they can make regular, routine, preventative dental care for themselves and their family quite affordable.

Dental care and dental health in this country will then only improve.

I would argue that one of the biggest factors holding back dental care in this country over the past 20 years has been the dying rump of NHS dentistry.