Dentist £££

heuchera

brook2jack wrote: »

Misaligned teeth are not life threatening.

54,000 children in England and Wales attended hospital for dental decay 2013 to 2014. Any general anaesthetic is potentially hazardous and obviously dental infection is potentially hazardous.

Does it still seem right that 40% of the children's dental budget is spent on orthodontics?

A simple course of orthodontics for an adult costs the NHS a minimum of £1300. To put that into context the local oral surgery department has a total annual budget of £35,000 to rebuild the faces and jaws of people who have had oral cancer. The upshot of this is that people wait months/years to have their faces rebuilt so they can eat,speak and look more normal.

Does it still seem a good idea for the NHS to provide braces for adults wonky teeth? It is this background that made the public ,who were asked , place orthodontics very low on spending priorities.

I hate to break this to you, but the NHS does not judge people's deserving or worthiness of treatment. If it did, we might see the number of drunken idiots who turn up at A&E drastically decrease in number!


There are always going to be arguments about what the NHS should and shouldn't fund but cosmetic procedures ARE done on the NHS if the psychological damage it's doing to the patient is great enough to warrant it.


The problem with dentistry (and possibly with opticians too) is that dentists are businessmen, and are not employed by the NHS. Some of them may lower themselves to have an NHS contract for some of their patients, but the majority who do seem to be counting the days till they can be rid of it and treating solely private patients.


Totally morally wrong, but the blame lies with the government who allowed/encouraged this to happen.

heuchera

Off topic, but this thread has stretched.. is there a way to get it back to normal?

I have to use a horizontal bar to scroll across and see the posts.

Undervalued

heuchera wrote: »

The problem with dentistry (and possibly with opticians too) is that dentists are businessmen, and are not employed by the NHS. Some of them may lower themselves to have an NHS contract for some of their patients, but the majority who do seem to be counting the days till they can be rid of it and treating solely private patients.


Totally morally wrong, but the blame lies with the government who allowed/encouraged this to happen.

Sorry but what gives you the right to decide that it is morally wrong for a dentist to practice privately?

They will have spent many years training, at very considerable personal expense, so providing they operate at a good professional standard why should they not be free to charge whatever the market will stand?

Not everybody wants to be restricted to some kind of socialist utopia where everybody is dragged down to the same level.

heuchera

Undervalued wrote: »

Sorry but what gives you the right to decide that it is morally wrong for a dentist to practice privately?

They will have spent many years training, at very considerable personal expense, so providing they operate at a good professional standard why should they not be free to charge whatever the market will stand?

Not everybody wants to be restricted to some kind of socialist utopia where everybody is dragged down to the same level.

Dentists are (supposed to be) healthcare professionals..

In this country profiteering from someone's ill health is (rightly) seen as undesirable.

Go to the States and you'll get a different story, of course, but do we really want to end up like that?

Undervalued

heuchera wrote: »

Dentists are (supposed to be) healthcare professionals..

In this country profiteering from someone's ill health is (rightly) seen as undesirable.

Go to the States and you'll get a different story, of course, but do we really want to end up like that?

Try telling that the the vast majority of NHS consultants who have a lucrative private practice in their spare time!

Why shouldn't they if there is a market for it as long as they do a good job?

heuchera

Undervalued wrote: »

Try telling that the the vast majority of NHS consultants who have a lucrative private practice in their spare time!

Why shouldn't they if there is a market for it as long as they do a good job?

Dentists don't practice dentistry "in their spare time".......
This is any case is taking the thread off topic.


The point being, this is a money saving website and a situation has come into being whereby an established clique of forum users are giving out misinformation regarding NHS dentistry (from claiming certain treatments are not available to giving the impression that your dentist has no duty of care toward you after your treatment if you are only NHS).

Why this has been allowed to happen is unclear, and needs really to be addressed at MSE towers.

I'll say it again (and this applies to any healthcare query):
go by the official information on the NHS website, NOT by an anonymous forum user on an internet chatroom.

brook2jack

There are plenty of official NHS links that have been posted including the official referral forms to back up the fact that adult orthodontics is not generally available on the NHS , despite the fact you have found only one that says it is. The British orthodontic links have also been published and some individual hospital links to back up the fact that adult orthodontics is generally not available on the NHS unless in association with surgical treatment for severe discrepancies.

There have also been numerous links to show since 2006 there is no such thing in England and Wales as registration with an NHS dentist. (There is still in Scotland and NI) .

In England and Wales a NHS patient is entitled to be seen during a course of NHS treatment, but once that course is finished the practice has no obligation to see them , although where CCG and LHB s allow most practices will prioritise their regular patients where their contracts and UDA allowances permit. http://www.patients-association.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/You-and-Your-Dentist-A-guide-for-Patients.pdf. http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/find-an-NHS-dentist.aspx

heuchera

brook2jack wrote: »

There have also been numerous links to show since 2006 there is no such thing in England and Wales as registration with an NHS dentist. (There is still in Scotland and NI) .

In England and Wales a NHS patient is entitled to be seen during a course of NHS treatment, but once that course is finished the practice has no obligation to see them

That is very misleading, though, as I think you know.

You're giving the impression that NHS treatment is a one-off and the surgery won't be bothered to see you after that.

Many thousands of people myself included have NHS treatment at our dentist, our records and x-rays are kept there and we get a reminder letter every 6 months to go for a routine check up.

Even a private dentist has no "obligation" to see the patient, but you don't mention that.

As I say, this is a money-saving website, and by misleading people you are encouraging them to spend on private dentistry when there really is no need.

Undervalued

heuchera wrote: »

That is very misleading, though, as I think you know.

You're giving the impression that NHS treatment is a one-off and the surgery won't be bothered to see you after that.

Many thousands of people myself included have NHS treatment at our dentist, our records and x-rays are kept there and we get a reminder letter every 6 months to go for a routine check up.

Even a private dentist has no "obligation" to see the patient, but you don't mention that.

As I say, this is a money-saving website, and by misleading people you are encouraging them to spend on private dentistry when there really is no need.

No it is not misleading at all.

As Brook has said, many practices choose to treat regular NHS patients as if they were "registered" (as they used to be) but they are no longer obliged to do so. Rightly or wrongly in England and Wales they are under no obligation to see that patient again once the current course of treatment is completed.

You might not like that but it doesn't make the information wrong or misleading.

What is misleading is to suggest that because your NHS dentist apparently goes above and beyond their minimum obligations that is the norm.

heuchera

Are you trying to suggest my NHS dentist is the only one in the entire country who "goes above and beyond" what's required of them? :rotfl:


And as I say, private dentists also have no obligation to see patients after their treatment has ended.

So totally misleading.