A strange woman replaced my dentist then gave me treatment I didn't ask for!

aphex

Ok,

Probably not the end of the world -

A few weeks ago I went to the dentist for a check up, I was called in as usual, and there was a strange woman standing there. I enquired as to where my usual dentist was and was told that she "had left".

Ok, so I let this new woman do the usual then she (without so much as a "by your leave") proceeded to give me a full scale and polish!


Forgive my ignorance (I'd successfully dodged dentists my entire adult life until about a year ago when it came to the literal crunch), but is someone not supposed to tell you when your dentist grows six inches and ages 20 years? And a scale and polish? Are they not supposed to advise you of charges before they begin?

I wasn't fussed at the time, but I get angrier every time I think about it!

Toothsmith

How much were you charged?

If it was only a clean and polish, then it would all be in the Band 1 £17 rate anyway (Assuming you're NHS)

If any part of it were done privately, then yes, there should have been a discussion about charges, as there should of been if it was deemed to be a Band 2 'treatment'.

With the high staff turnover in a lot of NHS pratices these days, if they were going to inform you every time someone moved on, they would probably need a team of office workers just dedicated to this task!

So the answer is yes they should, but if it was only a band 1 charge I wouldn't get too worried about it. She might have been very new, and was just trying to keep to time. NHS can be quite a fast conveyor belt!

If you are a private patient, I would have expected a bit more time to be spent - but again, she could have been very new.

beedeedee

I'm assuming you're talking about an NHS dental practice? Round here they can change dentists about every 6 months or so nowadays....we seem to get them straight out of Dental Schools (not necessarily in the UK) and I think they're gaining experience.......perhaps she didn't know it would have been polite to advise you beforehand what she was going to do?
Somewhere there will have been a poster with all the charges clearly marked - usually near the reception desk or the in the waiting room.
I've learnt now - to say "No" to many of the things that are suggested - scaling/polishing, cleaning etc until we have established whether these things WILL be charged for.......and how much.

pmduk

Either way it would be best to find out who the "strange woman" was before letting her start work.

brook2jack

Many practices will only have space for nhs patients with foundation year dentists. These are newly qualified dentists who do a compulsory training year in practice. Their contracts are only for one year and most/all pcts/lhbs will not provide funding for them to stay beyond that one year which is funded differently to normal dental contracts. Hence the merry go round of a new dentist every year.

As to dentists from abroad, many are tempted here by the false promise of a much increased income compared to their own countries. When they get here and see the increased cost of living, the very high cost to practice, and the realities of working in the nhs and the impossibility of earning what they were promised, many , very understandably , move very quickly on.