root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

mrs_angry

Toothsmith wrote: »

It's not easy to say.

There are a lot of teeth for which taking them out is the best treatment.

If a tooth is useful, I try everything I can to save it, but not every tooth is useful. And keeping some in some situations does more harm than good.

As for a hospital referral, again, it depends. Sometimes you can get away with a referral, but it's really not a very difficut thing to have done.

thanks it may not be difficult but i doubt that my nhs dentist would care much about my phobia, or my pain relief

Bf109

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Wouldn't your own dentist be best placed to advise you on that?

Yer, alright, fairy nuff. But my dentist isnt on MSE and I dont have his mobile number!

hethmar

mrs angry, I expect you are feeling very run down if you have an abcess. Try not to worry about it - the very worse scenario is losing a tooth. I know for you (and for me!) thats a really frightening prospect but it would take a couple of minutes and be over and done with. See what the private dentist recommends. My own chap is gutted that one of my bottom back molars which has been crowned in the past is beyond redemption and he has said it will have to be removed at some point. Luckily I have no pain at all from it. I trust him to be able to do that with the least horror to me (and I do get hyper, I can assure you). I think you have no trust in your dentist and thats what is making all this so much more frightening for you. If you dont feel you can trust the new chap, look for another, ask people for recommendations, read their websites and so on.

I wish you luck, I do understand.

Savvy_Sue

Bf109 wrote: »

Yer, alright, fairy nuff. But my dentist isnt on MSE and I dont have his mobile number!

And I don't suppose he'd want to give you his mobile number if you were going to use it for enquiries which could quite reasonably be expected to wait until normal surgery hours anyway.

mrs_angry

does anyone here know if you can be registered with an nhs dentist, but go to another practice for any private treatment you want and still be allowed to access your nhs dentist as usual

i was just asked this question by a Friend and i don't know?

StevieJ

Toothsmith wrote: »

It is possible to make a lot of money with an NHS contract. - and the pension is very good as well which is why a lot of older dentists stick with it.

It is not easy to make a lot of money whilst doing decent dentistry with an NHS contract.

All I want is a NHS dentist that does basics on NHS and then charges for advanced and cosmetics. Do dentists have to be one or the other? I have noticed that with NHS you have no time to discuss issues but in private treatment you are given plenty. The negative for private is the feeling that they are pushing treatment onto you, a bit like someone checking your roof, you don't really know if what they are telling you is the truth.

StevieJ

mrs_angry wrote: »

does anyone here know if you can be registered with an nhs dentist, but go to another practice for any private treatment you want and still be allowed to access your nhs dentist as usual

i was just asked this question by a Friend and i don't know?

I have more or less just asked that, great minds think alike.

tirednewdad

Difficult one really. There are not set rules regarding this. It would depend on the dentist- but i would say in 99% of cases if you were going to an private and NHS dentist without a combined consultation and treatment plan then it could cause real problems for your teeth. The NHS dentist and Private dentist would probably de-register you.

The only way round it is to ask you NHS dentist to reffer you to someone privately. Therefore you would be in the care of the NHS dentist while recieving the treatment privately. This is usually only done for single courses of treatment.

hethmar

I asked this at my old NHS surgery when they told me it was a 2 month wait for a RCT/crown. They said they did do private sessions but they were too busy anyway to fit me in earlier. Thank gawd as otherwise I may have stayed there and not found my new dentist.

mrs_angry

tirednewdad wrote: »

Difficult one really. There are not set rules regarding this. It would depend on the dentist- but i would say in 99% of cases if you were going to an private and NHS dentist without a combined consultation and treatment plan then it could cause real problems for your teeth. The NHS dentist and Private dentist would probably de-register you.

The only way round it is to ask you NHS dentist to refer you to someone privately. Therefore you would be in the care of the NHS dentist while receiving the treatment privately. This is usually only done for single courses of treatment.

so if i wanted to go to Harley street to have alot of cosmetic work done are you saying that i would have to have the approval of my rubbish nhs dentist first, i don't think that is right, if a nhs dentist will not or cannot do private dentistry you should be able to take your custom on a private basis elsewhere, and still be able to have the most basic of nhs dentistry on the nhs.

and as you say there are no set rules on this, but i am interested that you say this would cause real problems for your teeth, why would that be? because under a private dentist you could pay to get alot of treatments that the nhs will not do, and surely that can only be a good thing.

i agree with toothsmith that we should have very basic on the nhs but pay to have other treatment, that way if you are interested in keeping your teeth you will look after them or pay for your care.

and as i see it you are not actually registered with the nhs anymore you are just on a dentists books, so how could they de register you!