Warranty - dentist work

akkers

I have a friend who had a filling done on 11th Jan 2016 under NHS; part of this filling fell out in April 2016. The dentist corrected this under warranty.

However, part of this filling fell out again on xmas 2016. The patient contacted the dentist immediately after the xmas holidays and got an appointment for 22nd Jan 2017. When he attended the appointment, the dentist told him that filling would not be done again under warranty as their NHS contract only allows one rework under warranty; and that the 12 months had passed anyway.

Is this correct? Does treatment under NHS only allow repair under warranty just once? Surely this cannot be right. It would be giving a license to dentists to carry out shoddy work.

The fact that the filling came out on xmas 2016 and was reported immedietly after, within the 12 month period should be counted as warranty period? Not the date of the next available appointment which was 22nd Jan, after the 12 month had expired.

Guest101

In essence the dentist is correct:


http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/nhs-dental-treatment-goes-wrong.aspx?CategoryID=74&SubCategoryID=742


No additional charge should be made by your dentist when a restoration (filling, root filling, inlay, porcelain veneer or crown) has to be repaired or replaced within 12 months.
NHS dental treatment failure

If you were provided a restoration as part of your course of treatment, and it fails within 12 months, your dentist should carry out any work needed to repair or replace the restoration free of charge. This will not apply if:

• within the 12-month period another dentist has carried out any treatment on the same tooth that has been restored, or
• the patient was advised at the time of the restoration that it was temporary or a different restoration was more appropriate, but the patient insisted on a different form of restoration, or
• the repair or restoration is a result of trauma

if your friend thinks mistakes were made it would be appropriate to complain. But it's £50 (ish) and you get another 12 months, or if the tooth is failing he could consider extraction or Root canal and a crown

Toothsmith

Yes - that is right.

Proxima_Centauri

I'm not sure how long fillings are meant to last - mine have lasted for years (touch wood!). If your friend is not satisfied with the dentist - perhaps they are new/inexperienced - maybe get recommendations for another one?

akkers

Unfortunately the dentist was admant that NHS contract does not allow multiple repairs under warranty; her nurse backed it up. They are asking for a further £53.50 to do the filling again (out of which 19.70 has already been paid and rest to play when filling is done).
Unfortunately it is very hard (in fact almost impossible) to find another NHS dentist in this area. So my friend is stuck with the current dentist.

Proxima_Centauri

I may be wrong, but a lot of NHS dentists seem to be the less experienced ones who are just doing their stint (as it were) in NHS dentistry before going on to do private work only.

As such, the better ones are, unfortunately, more likely to be private.

Can your friend not join DenPlan? My mum has DenPlan and it only costs her about £30 per month. Many people spend more than that on Sky/internet subscriptions.

Toothsmith

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

I'm not sure how long fillings are meant to last

It's a hugely variable thing - which is why it is so hard to give a 'warranty'

Just as important, if not more important is how it is looked after, and how hard a particular patient bites on that particular tooth.

Some patients just destroy fillings (and teeth)

It's a bit like giving a full warranty on a car belonging to a stunt driver!

Proxima_Centauri

Yes, it might be better to lay off the toffee bon-bons :rotfl:



I used to buy them by the quarter when I was a child.

akkers

Yes but there has to be some kind of fallback. As things stand with my friend's practice, they can just do shoddy work and plead any kind of execuse. £53 is a lot of money and it becomes more painful when you are made to dish out £53 every 6 months.

silvercar

I'm sure no dentist deliberately sets out to do shoddy work!

teddysmum

Two years ago, I risked a filling where a crown was really needed, as I couldn't justify spending over £200 on one tooth. I was told that it could be replaced if it failed within 12 months.


It fell out and was replaced, but I was told that it could not be replaced,free of charge, a second time.


That one fell out ages ago, so I just let the tooth stay as it is, because even at over £200, the crown would only have a one off 12 month warranty, too.