Dental costs for full time student 20 June 2019 at 3:29PM edited 30 November -1 at 12:00AM in Health & Beauty MoneySaving 20 replies 2.4K views

kazmeister

Hi, please can anyone advise whether students have to pay for NHS treatment. My daughter has just come back from her new dentist to be advised she needs 9 fillings! She has always attended her check ups and didn’t need anything doing for a couple of years. Her check up was only late as our previous dentist was tragically killed in an accident. They have also told her she might need root canal treatment on one tooth. I am shocked by this as I have recently been told the same (albeit I was suffering pain) and I question whether they might just be going for big money treatments. I know my treatment (private) is in the region of £900 and she does not have the money from her student loan and summer job. She has an estimate for £62.10 for one amalgam filling so is looking at a huge amount if she has to pay this for each of 9.
I should add that she is FT student age 20

Browntoa

Yes unless they meet any of the criteria here

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/help-with-health-costs/get-help-with-dental-costs/

£62.10 is the standard band 2 charge , per filling

busybee100

Get a HC1 form. I would also want a second opinion with a different dentist.

kazmeister

She doesn’t have £558 to her name

davemorton

If she is at uni and living away from home, then so long as she earns under the threshold, she may be due for help. If she is at home, I believe they take your earnings into account.

kazmeister

davemorton wrote: »

If she is at uni and living away from home, then so long as she earns under the threshold, she may be due for help. If she is at home, I believe they take your earnings into account.

She is living away from home but is home for the summer. Her income is definitely under the threshold!

kazmeister

busybee100 wrote: »

Get a HC1 form. I would also want a second opinion with a different dentist.

Do you know how she can get that?

sheramber

kazmeister wrote: »

Do you know how she can get that?

Click on the link quoted above for details of dental charges and there is also a link to apply for forms

brook2jack

Most students will not get free dental treatment as , unfortunately , their student loan is counted as income, but yes fill in a hc1 form to check.

On the NHS in England a band two payment of £62.10 will cover the cost of all fillings and root fillings, it is not per filling. So for this number of fillings and root filling the dentist will actually be losing money, there is no incentive on theNHS to do lots of work.

Your daughter needs to look at her diet urgently. Does she drink a lot of energy drinks or smoothies or fruit teas ? She needs to discuss with her dentist the changes she needs to make to her diet.

cakey456

NHS Dentist, Band 2: £62.10
Covers all treatment included in Band 1, plus additional treatment, such as fillings, root canal treatment and removing teeth (extractions).
This charge covers the cost of the COURSE of treatment which could be one or six fillings.

kazmeister

brook2jack wrote: »

Most students will not get free dental treatment as , unfortunately , their student loan is counted as income, but yes fill in a hc1 form to check.

On the NHS in England a band two payment of £62.10 will cover the cost of all fillings and root fillings, it is not per filling. So for this number of fillings and root filling the dentist will actually be losing money, there is no incentive on theNHS to do lots of work.

Your daughter needs to look at her diet urgently. Does she drink a lot of energy drinks or smoothies or fruit teas ? She needs to discuss with her dentist the changes she needs to make to her diet.

Thank you. She doesn’t drink anything excessively, perhaps coffee but I don’t think she has sugar so I will get her to talk to the dentist again