How much for an NHS Dental check up

brook2jack

The point is your son cannot force the practice to see him as an nhs patient. If he wants to be seen there it will be private as they informed you before his appointment. If he wants nhs treatment it will have to be elsewhere. The practice has been straight forward and given him prices upfront so he can make the choice. Many practices have restricted contracts for children and exempt from paying patients and many just dont have spare nhs capacity especially if like this practice they are mostly private.

mandi

brook2jack wrote: »

The point is your son cannot force the practice to see him as an nhs patient. If he wants to be seen there it will be private as they informed you before his appointment. If he wants nhs treatment it will have to be elsewhere. The practice has been straight forward and given him prices upfront so he can make the choice. Many practices have restricted contracts for children and exempt from paying patients and many just don't have spare HS capacity especially if like this practice they are mostly private.

Thanks for your reply brook2jack . But that is my point .

My son has no problem with the fee, but until Tuesday the appointment was an NHS appointment not a private one .

It was only when I mentioned to the receptionist that he was now working that it apparently became a private one hence my OP .

The practice when we joined was an NHS practice and has only become a mostly private practice in the last few years .

Toothsmith said earlier in the thread that he spends 20 minutes for a check up privately that would be fine if my sons dentist does the same but he doesn't . It takes a few minutes at the most and for that reason I don't see how the dentist can justify £25 for it .


I just feel as though the practice have seen another opportunity to cash in because he's working.

suki1964

Have you not asked the practice why he's been changed from NHS to private?
Really at the end of the day we can only speculate where as the practice can tell you their reasoning

Toothsmith

You could look on it as 'cashing in' or you could look on it as now a place is freed up to give another person the same opportunity your son had before he was working.

Doubtless once he'd got to the practice and they'd found out he wasn't exempt from charges anymore, they'd have had the same conversation with him about paying now anyway.

All that's happened is that you've found out earlier.

mandi

Toothsmith wrote: »

You could look on it as 'cashing in' or you could look on it as now a place is freed up to give another person the same opportunity your son had before he was working.

Absolutely Toothsmith, I entirely agree if he gets the treatment he's paying for i.e a full and detailed check up instead of the usual quick glance, yes thats fine come back in 6 months , £25 please . I don't feel as though they can justify a private fee when the dentist spends so little time with the check up .

Or have I missed something ?:o

brook2jack

£25 private is roughly the same amount as a dentist gets in total for a Nhs check up. So the dentist is not making any more money , just your son would be paying all of the amount rather than the PCT making a contribution.

The time taken will also include the time taken to clean down surgery in-between patients and to put into context a cheap practice will cost £120 to £150 per hour per surgery to run.

Toothsmith

If he is now paying, then it might be worth just looking around other practices in the area and seeing what a similar amount of money would get you at a different practice.

Follow the tips in my sig for sorting out a new practice.

suki1964

mandi wrote: »

Absolutely Toothsmith, I entirely agree if he gets the treatment he's paying for i.e a full and detailed check up instead of the usual quick glance, yes thats fine come back in 6 months , £25 please . I don't feel as though they can justify a private fee when the dentist spends so little time with the check up .

Or have I missed something ?:o

No disrespect but you don't yet know how long he will be in the surgery being seen as he's not yet had the appointment???

Would it not be best to stop speculating,speak to the practice and then see what the actual out come is before assuming the dentist is here to rip your son off?

Nicki

mandi wrote: »

Absolutely Toothsmith, I entirely agree if he gets the treatment he's paying for i.e a full and detailed check up instead of the usual quick glance, yes thats fine come back in 6 months , £25 please . I don't feel as though they can justify a private fee when the dentist spends so little time with the check up .

Or have I missed something ?:o

If you and your son have both been NHS patients up until now, how do you know that the privately paid check up is identical to the NHS one out of interest? Besides which, if the first examination shows that all is well and no work is needed, then surely it is fine to send you away on a 6 month callback. I would expect the check up to take longer if there was a problem or possible problem which needs to be assessed, and would hope that a good dentist would not find a problem with a private patient which he wouldn't find with an NHS one!

mandi

suki1964 wrote: »

No disrespect but you don't yet know how long he will be in the surgery being seen as he's not yet had the appointment???

Would it not be best to stop speculating,speak to the practice and then see what the actual out come is before assuming the dentist is here to rip your son off?

Of course suki thanks again for your replies . In answer to your question he is booked in for his check up at 3.55 pm and with the hygienist at 4.00 pm.





Thanks toothsmith I will follow your links