£515 for 4 fillings. Is this NHS dentist trying to rip him off?

enigma368

Thanks Welsh, and I should of course say that this is not an attack on dentists, merely a query as to confusing, possibly unethical behaviour by one dentist.

If he says that is clinically necessary to provide a composite filling, then will this be by default covered under the NHS?

welshdent

I often do composite fillings in molars - if clinically necessary and appropriate

brook2jack

I agree with the others, if someone has a small mouth, difficult to get into then amalgam is a much better material to place. However if a hole is very large then there may not be enough tooth left to place an amalgam. In this case I personally would be looking at a crown or inlay rather than a large composite filling.

If something needs doing to a tooth and the person has been taken on as a NHS patient then a nhs option has to be offered.

Complain to the practice in writing to the practice about the lack of an NHS option. If not happy with response then write to local PCT address in phone book.

enigma368

So based on the advice here, I told him to ring up the practice and ask to book an appointment for the final filling to be done as a composite (as clinically advised) and I also asked him to make sure they confirm it would be done under his NHS treatment.

They rang him back later in the day and told him they were going to refer him to a Dental Hospital to get it done. Go figure! He is pretty happy though as he really did not want to have to go back to that Dentist.

The whole thing seems pretty absurd. Why become a Dentist if you have no interest in helping patients and are instead just interested in pumping people for cash? Pathetic Dentist in this case.

Thx everyone for the advice,
Rob

welshdent

They will have fun getting that one in the dental hospital. I have trouble getting people in for work thats actually warranted for referral :-S

brook2jack

Three problems here one is the hospital may very well not accept a referral for routine treatment, second even if they do your bf will gave a long wait and who knows what will happen to the tooth in the meantime and thirdly dental hospitals provide one off treatment not continuing care.

All in all it would be best if your bf researched dentists and booked in elsewhere for the treatment to be finished and more importantly for continuing care so he's not in the position again of needing alot of fillings and trying to find someone to do them.

POPPYOSCAR

OP you have my sympathies and understanding.

I posted something very similar last year, I think it was.

My Oh came out from his dentist totally bamboozled having signed for private treatment(over £400) on the advice of the dentist for work that could be done on the NHS, like you I questioned it, did some research, but when the dentist was confronted he said the same thing he would refer him to the dental hospital.

The bottom line is some obviously do not want to do the work involved for the money they are paid by the NHS.

enigma368

All in all it would be best if your bf researched dentists and booked in elsewhere for the treatment to be finished and more importantly for continuing care so he's not in the position again of needing alot of fillings and trying to find someone to do them.

I see. Should he wait to hear back on the referral first or should he just book a new NHS Dentist that will treat him properly? I feel like he should make a complaint about this Dentist as he has now effectively going to have to pay for two courses of NHS treatment because this Dentist was too lazy or incompetent to do his job properly.

My Oh came out from his dentist totally bamboozled having signed for private treatment(over £400) on the advice of the dentist for work that could be done on the NHS, like you I questioned it, did some research, but when the dentist was confronted he said the same thing he would refer him to the dental hospital.

The bottom line is some obviously do not want to do the work involved for the money they are paid by the NHS.

There was initially some benefit of the doubt given to this Dentist in this thread because everything I was recounting was second hand and I wasn't there etc. But based on the overall flow of events, it seems there is no doubt that this Dentist tried to "fool" my boyfriend into getting private treatment without ever telling him he was agreeing to private treatment(including strongly persuading him that he needed a composite filling in a tooth that was already surrounded by two teeth with amalgam fillings). He then subsequently gave substandard treatment when my boyfriend insisted on NHS care and refused to treat one tooth. It is disgusting.

Toothsmith

I don't think he should wait for the referral. It will take too long.

I think he should write a letter of complaint to the practice (The practice will have an in-house complaint proceedure and you might be pleasantly surprised by the outcome if the senior dentist/dentists there don't know fully what's going on in the practice (If this guy was just an associate - I'm not sure of the set up there).

It might also be a good idea to send a complaint to the dental people at the local PCT. Not offering 'necessary' treatment on the NHS - and then trying to refer it is a serious matter and they should be 'interested' to hear about this.

But - priority one would be for you BF to get the tooth sorted out before anything gets worse from it.

trumpton

Those reviews on the linked site are horrific. You have to wonder why a central London dentist is able to offer NHS treatment, when there is supposed to be a shortage of NHS places. I can only assume that the private patients are not prepared to pay to be treated so badly and only make one visit.

I would definitely ask your partner to write to the PCT about this dentist as their behaviour sounds very dodgy and you may help to ensure others don't go through the same thing.