Warranty - dentist work

welshdent

Proxima_Centauri wrote: »

Using loaded phrases like 'gravy train' is opinion, not facts.

I hope akkers friend manages to get their filling sorted out, anyway.

I hope they do too. However what was incorrect about what I say??

You pick one comment. Gravy train is not an opinion. It's an observation.

This highly lucrative private world that all dentists magically disappear in to simply does not exist. It is media spin. Look at the facts.
Most dentists particularly where I am are NHS. That can be exemplified by the lack of private dentists to pay for the hiw to register them. Hence expanding their remit to all general practice dentists. That's not opinion. It is fact. Most purely private dentists doing general dentistry NOT specialist work which is outside the NHS availability anyway earn more or less the same as NHS dentists. That is demonstrated by figures published annually. So as I say. Not opinion. Fact. Hence my observation there is no private gravy train populated by dentists that did a stint in the NHS.
I've been doing NHS dentistry for 12 years. When does my stint end?

brook2jack

When our practice, mostly, converted to private each of the dentists had been in NHS practice over 20 years and each of us expected to remain a NHS dentist.

In my area there was not a single private practice. Within a couple of years of the 2006 contract the only NHS practices left were newly opened corporate and a couple of small practices.

The statistics say that a dentist who does mostly private work earns around 5% more than a dentist doing mostly NHS work. Though the fees are higher the expenses are also higher.

For a dentist it means they can spend time , use better materials , techniques and do things as they were taught. But more importantly it means they are no longer on the treadmill of overwhelming cuts with each year expected to do more for less.

Since 2006 dental incomes ,private and NHS , have fallen by over 20% and continue to fall year on year.

With new graduates coming out with £60,000 to £80,000 debt it's not surprising they are desperate to get out of NHS practice. Unfortunately private jobs are few and far between and normally need people to have gained very expensive further qualifications and experience.

However the other reason dentists move on is that newly qualified dentists have to do a training year in practice. If they wanted to stay on in that practice the practice would have to apply for a contract for them. In my area it is policy not to offer new contracts as the health authority is in the red. Therefore the dentist has to move on every year and a new training dentist takes their place.

No practice, no matter how busy, can treat more patients than it has a contract for. Dentists may wish or need to take on more patients but they cannot because they cannot get the contract , or when it is offered it is at rates that are financial suicide.

Proxima_Centauri

welshdent wrote: »

I hope they do too. However what was incorrect about what I say??

You pick one comment. Gravy train is not an opinion. It's an observation.

This highly lucrative private world that all dentists magically disappear in to simply does not exist. It is media spin. Look at the facts.
Most dentists particularly where I am are NHS. That can be exemplified by the lack of private dentists to pay for the hiw to register them. Hence expanding their remit to all general practice dentists. That's not opinion. It is fact. Most purely private dentists doing general dentistry NOT specialist work which is outside the NHS availability anyway earn more or less the same as NHS dentists. That is demonstrated by figures published annually. So as I say. Not opinion. Fact. Hence my observation there is no private gravy train populated by dentists that did a stint in the NHS.
I've been doing NHS dentistry for 12 years. When does my stint end?

I think it must vary a lot from area to area. Where I live, finding an NHS dentist, and particularly one who's accepting new patients, is like finding hens teeth!

MichaelViscione

Absolutely you are right.

akkers

I can assure you my friend does not chew toffee each night and looks after teeth well. I am just not convinced that the dentist is doing a good job, nor is my friend.

Incidently, when a dentist has to repair under warranty, why does NHS come into it? If the dentist has charged the NHS first time around then he has an obligation to put that right under warranty and without further charges to NHS. Surely.

brook2jack

Because when a dentist sets a private charge they include an amount for inevitable replacements ,remakes etc.
The NHS fees are so low they do not include this amount in the fees.

However like all NHS work the amount of work replaced under guarantee is strictly monitored and dentists are sanctioned who do not statistically fit into the average.

akkers

But surely, the NHS can say we cannot contribute to the repair work carried out under warranty as it should have been done right in the first place.

brook2jack

As explained before , enamel is the strongest substance in the body, stronger than bone. It is specifically designed to stand up to the enormous pressure, changes in temperature, acidity , etc that are generated in the mouth.

A filling means that the enamel has been damaged by what has been going on in the mouth and the tooth is no longer intact.

A dentist then has to use an artificial filling material , which is only a second best after your own tooth and not as strong, and then perform microsurgery in a living , breathing awake human being and try to make something strong enough to survive where your own tooth failed.

It is hardly surprising that dentistry sometimes fails, it is only surprising that the vast majority of the time it suceeds!

welshdent

You do assume the dentist did something wrong in the first place. More often than not that isn't the case.

akkers

I have full confidence in the NHS though small mistakes do happen from time to time. However, I have very little faith in the UK dentistery after how I and my family have been treated over the last 25yrs. I might be wrong but to me the dentists (at my practice) have been just after money and paid very little attention to my dental health.