Can't afford dentist?

falko89

I am already with an NHS dentist, the only NHS dentist in or town, I earn minimum wage and with keeping a house running everything is counted for, I've already put the dentist off for over a year now as need 3 fillings replaced, we did apply for help with dental costs but it has to be over £200 before we get help I mean I've never had treatment that costs £200. My dentist is also totally inflexible, as treatment has to be paid for on the day.

Anyone any advice?

System

This page might have some relevant information for you:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1786.aspx

Also, the debt-free wannabe board is good at helping people with their household budgets. It might be worth posting up a SOA on there to see if there are other areas you can cut back on in order to put a little bit aside each month for the dentist?

falko89

avogadro wrote: »

This page might have some relevant information for you:
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1786.aspx

Also, the debt-free wannabe board is good at helping people with their household budgets. It might be worth posting up a SOA on there to see if there are other areas you can cut back on in order to put a little bit aside each month for the dentist?

Yes I already applied for the low income scheme, they came back saying I will not pay any more than £200 for an NHS dentist which was useful.

welshdent

just wanted to stick up for the dentist on one point ... you said they arent being flexible. They cant be more flexible than they are already being. We do not set the fees and we are obliged to collect the patient charge at the start of treatment as per the regs. There is no scope at all for staggered payments or credit. It is done that way deliberately so that PCTs and LHBs do not have bad debt and it is placed on to the dentist. FWIW if you are in Wales or England and if all you have is fillings then 1 or 4 will still only cost you a band 2 charge which is less than 45 for all the work. Its more if you need a crown though as that would make it a band 3 ... but still good value when compared to what you are getting for it and again you pay the one fee irrespective of how many fillings and crowns needed.

If you are in scotland it is still fee per item but I believe the fees are quite low.

Have you any idea about the quoted costs or are you just worried what they MAY be?

Toothsmith

If you're in England or Wales, and it's only fillings you need, then the charge for that treatment will be about £47 (Not sure what band 2 is now) The maximum charge in England for a course of treatment is £214 - so your low income support isn't really that much help!

That does mean though, that someone has assessed your income and deemed that to be a fair contribution from you. They're probably the people who you need to get cross with, not the dentist.

mda99das

falko89, do you have sky TV?

purcel

Band 2 NHS dental treatment is actually £49, not bad considering it covers as many fillings as you need( silver for back teeth, white for front teeth).

Toothsmith

mda99das wrote: »

falko89, do you have sky TV?

Good point.

Your mouth could be completely sorted out for the same price as a month's subscription. Even worst case would be less than 6 months viewing.

notanewuser

Toothsmith wrote: »

Good point.

Your mouth could be completely sorted out for the same price as a month's subscription. Even worst case would be less than 6 months viewing.

Which will be sorted very soon, it seems.

falko89 wrote: »

Got the phone call from sky yesterday. We already had a 12 month discount. I said it was to expensive, they said they could reduce the package, I am only on 2 packs, I said no just cancel and that was that, wasn't much effort made at getting me to stay, going off next week.