Teeth problem and no dentist

mancitychick

Quote:
Originally Posted by mancitychick
I second this. My private dentist charges £12 for a check up, whereas my Husaband pays his NHS dentist £15.50 for his check up.

Toothsmith wrote: »

That £15.50 would include the clean-up and any x-rays as well, whereas you would pay extra for that.

BUT - the dentist only gets 1 UDA (funding point) for a 10 second look round, and exactly the same for a GOOD examination with x-rays and the clean and polish.

If you were an NHS dentist struggling to reach your target number of funding points, which are you most likely to do?

My Hubbys dentist does the check up and makes him make another appointment for a scale and polish only. Therefore he ends up paying two lots of £15.50 - one for each appt. Is this to up their funding points?

Toothsmith

mancitychick wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by mancitychick
I second this. My private dentist charges £12 for a check up, whereas my Husaband pays his NHS dentist £15.50 for his check up.






My Hubbys dentist does the check up and makes him make another appointment for a scale and polish only. Therefore he ends up paying two lots of £15.50 - one for each appt. Is this to up their funding points?

That is wrong, and the PCT would be very interested in hearing about this fiddle.

LondonDiva

vickitoria100 wrote: »

Hi Milly

It's highly unlikely you'll find a dentist taking on patients over 18.

Sorry to be rude, but tosh. If a practice is regtistering NHS patients, they will be taking all patients entitled to NHS care.

The only exemption may be if they have a specific contract for children only which is incredibly unlikely. If an NHS dentist says this, they are most likely breaching their contract and the PCT needs to be notified straight away through the PALS team who will notify the dental contracts and advisor teams.

Another exemption this close to the end of the financial year (31 March) is that practices may be rationing their care to patients they have a history with / know will be returning. If ask them to put you on a waiting list, you should be able go back next Monday.

vickitoria100 wrote: »

Hi Milly
However, there will be several in your area which offer treatment under the new 'simpler charging' scheme for patients not registered. Contact you Primary Care Trust or see http://www.nhs.uk/England/Dentists/NearestSearch.aspx for this.

Charges depend on what needs doing...

This is the new NHS dental service and only way of accessing NHS services.

You are no longer registered with a practice, but you are registered for a course of treatment on.ly. However, many practices will encourage patients to return to build up a relationship and someone familiar with your teeth and history.

LondonDiva

mancitychick wrote: »

My Hubbys dentist does the check up and makes him make another appointment for a scale and polish only. Therefore he ends up paying two lots of £15.50 - one for each appt. Is this to up their funding points?

Ask the practice, politely, exactly why they are charging this way as it is the same course of treatment. Then ring up the PCT's PALS team and ask them to clarify what is happening with the practice and the double charging. They should also arrange for the practice to refund the money & monitor any further issues to do with this in practice & contract visits.

LondonDiva

Milly, you can register with any NHS dentist...where do you live or work?

Come Monday the new money & contracts come into force and any practices that have run out should have more capacity. Best way to find out which practices are NHS is to ring the contracts or PALS team of PCT of the area you want to register in (google) and ask them to send you a list.

Come Monday ring up, ask to book an appointment, be seen. If they then refuse to see you, ask why, if they are clearing a backlog, ask about their waiting list. If they do not have a list or a reasonable explanation, tell the PCT as this is a breach of contract.

There are dentists out there, but there is a lot of misinformation, some dodgy dentists, some ditto patients and a crappy contract

kickstart_3

I am sure you can ring NHS Direct and they will put you in touch with a dentist. If it does become an emergency , you can go to your local hospitals dental dept and they will see you.

Toothsmith

That is true so long as they have an NHS dentist they can put you in touch with.

Some areas are better served than others.

Local hospitals rarely have a 'dental department' like that.

They sometimes have an Oral Surgery department, but they don't dirty their hands with mere toothaches!

Some cities have dental teaching hospitals, which may be worth a try, but take a good book if you're lucky enough to get through the door.

Some areas also have NHS dental access centres. These are basically toothache services, despite the fact they cost the taxpayer about £1m each, and are equiped to a very high standard with stuff that never comes out of the cupboard!

Vashti

No advice for you I'm afraid, just wanted to share that I had a similar problem when my NHS dentist decided to go private. Out of the blue, I just got a letter saying she was no longer available for NHS treatment, and as no other dentists in the practice were taking on new patients, my son and I were no longer registered with the practice . (Six months later I got another letter inviting me to attend the practice as a private patient.) I wasn't so bothered about me at that time, but my 12 year old son was at the start of extensive orthodontic treatment -so I rang round all the dentists in my area. (North East Scotland) I had no problem getting my son into a practice, but every single practice I phoned - and I went trough the whole phone book - told me they were not accepting adult NHS patients.

Unfortunately, I started a bad toothache just before a holiday, and I went as an emergency appointment to our local NHS dental service, called 'G-Dens', based at the local hospital. All they do is extractions or antibiotics - I took the antibiotics - and they told me to register with a dentist.

I have since found a private practice who charged me thirty pounds for a check up, x-rays were another forty. I have to have a root canal treatment which is costing three hundred and ninety pounds, and a replacement crown at another four hundred pounds.

iceicebaby

My dentist charges £12 for a check up and scrape and polish (NHS) you do have to go back for the scrape and polish but its all the one charge.

£39 for fillings , any number as long as they part of the same course of treatment and then £149 or something like that for crowns,

Toothsmith

It will be £15.50 for the exam/clean, £42.40 for the fillings etc, and £189 for the crowns/dentures.

Any different charge (Greater or lesser) is NOT an NHS charge.