NHS Dental costs

robowen

I've just received a quote from my NHS dentist for work needed to repair a front tooth.
The quote is split into 2 parts :
Examination, 2 fillings, 1 extraction and a temperary denture £101.80

The second part has been put under private treatment :
Scale and polish and 3 unit bridge £776.00

Total £877.80.
Frightening !!

I've been a NHS patient all my life and paid tax and national insurance too, so how come they put this down as private ?
Do the NHS not do bridges ?

How can I check their prices ?
any info appreciated.
Thanks
Rob

crunchy_with_ketchup

robowen wrote:

How can I check their prices ?
any info appreciated.

See http://www.oxfordshire.nhs.uk/documents/dentalfees.pdf for prices. Check with your local Primary Care Trust, they should be able to advise if it is available on the NHS. If it isn't, there may be an alternative treatment which isn't as neat/pretty, so ask the dentist what you could have done on the NHS instead.

I'm currently sitting with a tempoirary filling been in place since Dec, which I suspect is now infected. No NHS dentists on the Isle of Wight :-(

Definition of a dentist - Simultaneous pain in the rear end, mouth and wallet

Toothsmith

crunchy_with_ketchup wrote:

Definition of a dentist - Simultaneous pain in the rear end, mouth and wallet

Think yourself lucky you got a temporary filling my lad!!!!

crunchy_with_ketchup

Toothsmith wrote:

Think yourself lucky you got a temporary filling my lad!!!!

LOL! I wondered how long it would take for someone with a professional interest to respond to that ;-)

Just want Raj, my dentist from Colindale back really.... :-(

Teerah

Toothsmith wrote:

Think yourself lucky you got a temporary filling my lad!!!!

Hear hear! :T

Toothsmith

robowen wrote:

I've just received a quote from my NHS dentist for work needed to repair a front tooth.
The quote is split into 2 parts :
Examination, 2 fillings, 1 extraction and a temperary denture £101.80

The second part has been put under private treatment :
Scale and polish and 3 unit bridge £776.00

Total £877.80.
Frightening !!

I've been a NHS patient all my life and paid tax and national insurance too, so how come they put this down as private ?
Do the NHS not do bridges ?

How can I check their prices ?
any info appreciated.
Thanks
Rob

I could go on and on about this one from the point of view of what is and isn't available on the NHS. Politicians always define the NHS as a service 'Free to all at the point of delivery' This last applied to dentistry in 1948. :mad:

The NHS contract is so woolly that if an NHS patient complained loudly and long enough to the right people, then his dentist could be forced to provide all of the treatment on the NHS.

Unless every single i is dotted and t crossed on the notes and full consent is signed by the patient to show that the patient understood that the 'Private' part was not actually necessary to maintain his/her dental health, but a cosmetic extra which they were happy to pay more for.

If you decided to try and exploit this, you would probably get your treatment on the NHS, from a dentist who would make a huge loss on the deal, despite trying to source the cheapest bridge he possibly could.(And that really wouldn't do you any favours in the long run)

He would then wake up to the fact that the NHS regulations are designed more to enable politicians to boast a 'full and comprehensive' NHS dental service than they are to make a workable system that provides basic dental care to the most needy in society.

He would then do what all of us who have already realised that have done, and go private!

The charges to me look reasonable. It strikes me that this is a dentist trying his best to stay on the Nash, but bending the rules a tad in order to stay in business.

If you feel that it all should be available on the NHS, now is a perfect time to hassel our glorious leaders about it. They at least pretend to listen in the run up to an election

How much of an issue do you want to make of it

Teerah

robowen wrote:

Do the NHS not do bridges ?

Most NHS dentists find proving certain treatment unrealistic on current NHS remuneration. Basically, by the time that lab bills and surgery overheads are paid, there is very little profit for the dentist. For this reason, some NHS dentists are now opting out of certain treatments that are perhaps not necessary to maintain oral health such as some dentures and bridges and providing basic treatment only on the health service. Such treatment will make the patient dentally fit but may not be the most aesthetic treatment available. The more aesthetically pleasing or desirable treatments are then offered on a private basis.

crunchy_with_ketchup

It worries me that NHS dental treatment is crumbling so much (like my teeth). Ultimately poor dental care will lead to a strain on other NHS services (prevention is surely cheaper than cure). Locally we are looking at new dentists coming in from Poland. This raises several questions - 1) What effect will that have on the livelyhood of UK dentists, who are not ceasing to treat, just ceasing to treat on the NHS? - 2) What effect will this have on the good people of Poland, when all their dentists dissapear to earn more money in the UK? - 3) How can this possibly be sustainable, or are we going to simply work our way through a host of countries where dentists are less well paid then the UK>

Sorry, bit OT for MSE but my ***** teeth hurt and it makes me cross!!!

Teerah

crunchy_with_ketchup wrote:

prevention is surely cheaper than cure

Prevention is certainly cheaper than cure but unfortunately the NHS remuneration for dentistry does not promote this approach by paying fee per item and very little for prevention! Theoretically the capitation fee per patient on a dentists list is supposed to cover prevention but how such a nominal fee is supposed to do that is unclear!

ilovefreebies_2

I aint been for about 2 years Oops

crunchy_with_ketchup

Teerah wrote:

Prevention is certainly cheaper than cure but unfortunately the NHS remuneration for dentistry does not promote this approach

That's what I'm getting at. The whole system is so busy penny pinching it will end up costing a fortune in the end - just out of different budgets. Mugging Peter to pay Paul.

BTW if you don't like capitation are you suggesting the opposite, and wouldn't that put dentists out of business in a big way? ;-)