Dental Insurance that is reasonably priced?

ripplyuk

I'm entitled to free NHS dental treatment (if it could be called treatment) but I'm fed up with it. Every check up I've had in the past 2 years has been a 10 second glance and then, when problems occur, I've had to go private to get it sorted out either because the treatment isn't available on the NHS or I can't even get an appointment for weeks.

I've found a private practice that I think I'd be happy with, though I still want to call in just to check it out first. They list their fees on the website and I could manage the check up fees and scale/polish etc but the expensive stuff eg: crowns, would leave me in debt.

Could anyone recommend a good dental insurance provider? I don't need optical cover or any extras, just dental. I would be happier if it had emergency and accident cover. I've been reading online and found a few but I'd really like some recommendations first. They also seem very expensive.

I've also considered self-insuring by saving each month but I'm not sure which would be best.

freeyaeco

Hi, I'm a french dentist and just arrived in UK.

How can I put this? The NHS is dreadful, it cannot work, it is impossible to give a patient good treatment at that price. I believe the prices in the NHS are among the lowest in the world (if not the lowest), and when compared with the cost of life, they are by far, very far, the cheapest in the world. It cannot work. Saying otherwise is just lying to your face, and it is in my opinion a urgent matter of pulic health! I know it's only teeth and that some of you think it isn't important, but teeth have a very strong social impact and problems in the teeth and gums can have important consequences on general health (just so you know : having moderate gum disease, periodontitis, is the equivalent of having an infected wound the size of the palm of your hand. Think about it.)

As for insurance, your system is pretty weird, people are reluctant here to provision for their health. I see plans at 6-8£/month, what do you think that can cover? Close to nothing, maybe some NHS treatment, a check-up per year privately maybe, that's not a real cover.

The other system would be denplan, which seems to cover most of the costs at a rather moderate price, the problem being the exceptions : some dentists will rule out RCT from the plan, and adding to that any specialists consult and treatment (when things actually get costly) aren't covered. Other major issue with denplan you need to be "dentally fit" to start the plan, meaning that you would need to pay for your treatment to sign up (sometimes quite a lot). Premiums start around 15£/month if you never had a problem and rise to around 55-60£/month if you've had many, the average being around 30-35£month. It's actually quite a lot for what's offered.

Plans like bupa and other insurances, won't cover all your costs (for treatments, bupa is around 75% up to around 700£), and have pretty low yearly/limits, getting it through your business the limits are a bit higher but I don't know the real price of the premium.

You seriously lack real coverage in UK, and I think it is because most of you consider the NHS to be a viable alternative to private practice, and in dentistry it really isn't.

I am thinking of starting my own plan for my practice, which would cover everything, anything you would need would be included, no "dentaly fit" policy, no exclusion (even ortho would be included) only exclusion would be implants, and even for that I'd have an option for up to 2 implants/year. I'm really thinking about it.

The price should be between band C and D of Denplan.

In France we consider it dangerous to not have insurance, because you don't know what could happen, accident or cavities (multiple) and if left untreated it only gets worse, and more expensive. The problem with dental insurance is that you don't need it, until you do! The prices for treatment rise very fast, and if you can't afford them, they continue rising (as problems grow bigger because untreated) until you can.

ripplyuk

Thanks Freeyaeco, you're right about the NHS. Unfortunately, it extends to all areas of healthcare, not just dentistry. I just wish people knew how little a dentist can actually do on the NHS. Most people believe they will be getting the best of care.

All the insurance policy's I'be looked at have lots of exclusions which puts me off. I really wish there was a scheme that covered everything you needed. I'm seriously thinking that for now, it might be best to just try to save up a fund for dentist treatment but I know I could never afford implants and I worry what would happen if I have an accident.

freeyaeco

I don't know about other domains (well I know a little from a friend of mine OBGYN who told me how it went when he worked in London, and you don't want to know.) but in dentistry, it's a vast comedy. You probably get one of the lowest level of care of all the developed countries.

The problem with saving on your own, is it actually takes some time to have a comfortable fund, so anyone telling you it's usually a good option neglect the fact that within the 5 years it takes you to actually have enough to see coming, you might have a problem and not enough money to pay for it. Statistically odds are not that elevated that it will happen, but statistics are statistics, even if you have a say 5%chance of having a big problem, if you are in the 5% for you it becomes 100%. Doing so you are playing a reverse lottery, if you have enough money by the time the problem arises you are good to go, if you don't... Another thing is in some rare cases the bill can rise to suprisingly huge amounts (in case of accident mainly) and in your system you wouldn't be covered.

It's not that easy to decide what option is best, and UK lacks a real proper cover for dentistry. I'll try to create it for my patients see if enough are willing to pay to be sure never to have to spend a dime (except for veneers and cosmetic stuff, we would do a huge discount, around 40% but can't put it in a scheme, because then everyone would want bleeching and veneers all the time). Good luck, but sadly the perfect solution does not exist in UK, in my opinion!

welshdent

Well imho the poster is absolutely correct about nhs dentistry and frankly it seems to take someone to come in from outside to tell it like it is. We get pilloried in the press for being greedy or any other form of negative adjective. Fact is most of us try to make an ethical living and actually subsidise dental care from our own pockets while the general public have zero idea as to the true cost of delivering dentistry ... But we still get accused of being greedy.

brook2jack

Freeyaeco if you have just arrived in the UK I would advise getting a dental job before setting up your own practice because along with the well documented problems you talk about you have to factor in a level of regulation and legislation that is 30 times greater than anywhere else in the world and a dentist in the UK is more likely to be sued than anywhere else in the world other than Israel. It makes running a practice extremely expensive and is a very different practicing environment from what i understand is the norm in France.

You will also find banks will be very unwilling to lend money to individuals setting up or buying into existing practices even with fantastic business plans.

The type of high end practice you are talking about will be very difficult to establish as a cold squat and very expensive to set up and keep going until you are established, especially if you are thinking of setting up anywhere near the highly competitive market in London.

Try and find yourself a job and then you will have a better idea of what you will be letting yourself in for. Few British dentists would advise colleagues from overseas to set up a practice here for many reasons there are many other places where running a practice is an awful lot easier.

freeyaeco

Thanks brook,

I already have a job, I work full time privately, because I knew I wouldn't be able to cope with the level of dentistry in NHS. From the treatments I have seen so far, some don't get sued enough, far from it. As I told you I am astonished by the poor level of care I have witnessed so far, not at all meeting international standards. Your regulations concern mainly what is "around" dental care, like preventing cross infection, sterilisation, radiology etc... not so much the quality of your treatments. You should have a regulation of the number of patients you are allowed to see per day, because we know treating correctly a patient actually takes a certain amount of time.

In France we are controlled on the crown/filling ratio and on the total amount of acts you do per year, if you are outside of the norm you will be required to present some of your cases, if it appears the quality is too low, you start having big problems.

PS. We are also controlled a lot on the rest in France.

justme111

Op , most of the dental problems that need a significant outlay of money are nit urgent. So if you faced with one you have time to prepare for it. I would advise finding a dentist / a couple of dentists (as we all good at different things ) that you trust , brush and floss well - if you have low dental need you will need one check up a year and one filling every 5 year's for example , hardly breaking the bank and self ensure.

Re dental care - yes , regulation is a joke , they are concerned not with your treatment but with ticking the box of vulnerable adults protection blub , its beyond ridiculous ...

freeyaeco

justme111 wrote: »

Op , most of the dental problems that need a significant outlay of money are nit urgent. So if you faced with one you have time to prepare for it. I would advise finding a dentist / a couple of dentists (as we all good at different things ) that you trust , brush and floss well - if you have low dental need you will need one check up a year and one filling every 5 year's for example , hardly breaking the bank and self ensure.

I disagree, most dental problems have a way better prognosis if you take care of them straight away, if you need RCT you need it before the tooth gets infected, or if it already is, before it spreads more causing bone damage, and after RCT most of the time you need a crown or inlay/onlay/overlay the fastest possible because you want to prevent leakage to have a better prognosis. If you don't have the 800-1000£ it takes for one tooth (let alone having two teeth with problems, which happens quite often because caries develop most of the time in between adjacent teeth) the bill can easily rise pretty quickly. If you don't have 1000£ you won't have them in a two month period and it would mean waiting 6 months or more, and a lot can happen in 6 months.

justme111

freeyaeco wrote: »

I disagree, most dental problems have a way better prognosis if you take care of them straight away, if you need RCT you need it before the tooth gets infected, or if it already is, before it spreads more causing bone damage, and after RCT most of the time you need a crown or inlay/onlay/overlay the fastest possible because you want to prevent leakage to have a better prognosis. If you don't have the 800-1000£ it takes for one tooth (let alone having two teeth with problems, which happens quite often because caries develop most of the time in between adjacent teeth) the bill can easily rise pretty quickly. If you don't have 1000£ you won't have them in a two month period and it would mean waiting 6 months or more, and a lot can happen in 6 months.

Anything "can " happen. It is unlikely to though with proper handling . Proper pulp extirpation and dressing would most likely give 6 months before rct is done. Examinations with proper dentist and good oral higiene will make extremely unlikely to find suddenly a few holes or for that matter not that likely to find teeth needing rct by dozens. Tooth remain covered with temporary can perfectly wait for a crown for months. Etc etc. So no need for building up a myph that private dentistry is unaffordable or that expensive.

Op , u just remembered about interest free credit service which is offered in many dental practices which is an excellent way of affording dental care - as Lo.g as you pay the whole loan during your interest free period.

ManofLeisure_2

A really interesting thread. I thought it might be useful to add my experience of both NHS and Private dentistry.
For 25+ years I was registered with a NHS dentist (chap who worked on his own) and the treatment I received was brilliant. I guess I was fairly lucky as my teeth aren't in too bad a shape. Anyway, I attended on a yearly basis and a couple of fiillings here and there were required. Everything always looked top-class after treatment and I never had any problems following. Anyway, this dentist retired and the Practice became a Private establishment. I decided to continue at this Surgery, but wish I had not. The new dentist decided that one of my fillings (no xray taken) needed to be replaced. It was an amagalm filling which had apparently seen better days. I must stress that I had never had a twinge from this tooth and it looked ok to me - but I'm not a dentist. So it was out with the amalgam and in with the composite. A few months late an abscess then formed at the site of this tooth and I underwent a root canal proceedure in an attempt to save the molar that had always served me so well. I was told that I would require 2 sessions, but in the end only one was required. Despite being told that the canals were very narrow, the proceedure took less than 1 hr. I thought nothing of it at the time because I had no experience to draw upon. Anyway, a few months later several tiny blisters formed around the gum of this tooth. Xrays were taken and I was told that everything was fine and the tooth was still healing. I returned home quite thankful that this was the case. The tooth then cracked and I returned to the dentist to be told that the root canal hadn't failed, but I now had a root fracture and the tooth would have to be extracted. I have since visted a dental implant specialist who told me that the root canal had in fact failed. What more can I say. The check up cost me £40, followed by the filling at £120. The root canal totalled £350 and I now face a bill of £2200 for the implant. I must admit that the thought of another trip to the dentist terrifies me - particularly from a financial point of view.