COVID19 DENTIST CHARGING FOR PPE

brook2jack2

Unfortunately mouth cancer kills more people a year than cervical and testicular cancer combined and the profile of people with it is getting much younger. Unfortunately the profile is getting younger because ,although you are right smoking and drinking is a massive risk factor, papilloma virus (warts) Is increasingly associated with it. 

Rates of oral cancer are increasing over the last few years.

Thrugelmir

epm-84 said:

Thrugelmir said:

JCS1 said:

I would rather go to a hairdresser or dentist that is taking their responsibilities seriously, and if that means higher grade PPE and a charge, then so be it.

Same applies to any establishment. Longer term there'll be the ones that survive. Those that cut corners will more than likely suffer the consequences. Takes years to build a reputation and seconds to destroy it. 

In some sectors you have more choice than in others.  To make it simple say you get your hair done every 4 weeks and the price increases by 25%.  Even if you stick with the same hairdresser you have the option of going every 5 weeks instead and annually you'd pay exactly the same amount as you would before the price increase.  You can't do that with dental appointments or optician appointments, if the price increases you have to pay more and if you can't afford to pay more then you have a problem!

My dentist has already cancelled my late August check up appointment. Still working on the backlog /emergency appointments. Not the capacity to increase throughput of patients. Assume this will result in less frequent checkups for the foreseeable future. 

happybagger

My dentist has advised that they will not be doing anything other than emergency extractions until next year. (Wales)

silvercar

happybagger said:

My dentist has advised that they will not be doing anything other than emergency extractions until next year. (Wales)

Even with the increased time for and between patients, I do wonder if your dentist can be kept busy if all he will (agree to) do is extractions. If so dentistry in his area must be in poor shape.

[Deleted User]

When I went to the NHS dentist (just a checkup), no PPE charge. I’m at the orthodontist for an hour (all new braces) this week so will report back with charges (or lack of, hopefully).

SnowTiger

happybagger said:

My dentist has advised that they will not be doing anything other than emergency extractions until next year. (Wales)

I live in Wales.  A friend here had a filling disintegrated a couple of weeks ago.  Her dentist replaced it.

She said they told her they couldn't do any work involving 'aerosols'.  I guess that means they could use the slow drill, but not the fast one that needs liquid cooling.

I doubt a dentist will be doing much work if they're only doing extractions.

brook2jack2

Before a dentist can do drilling or any treatment involving an aerosol amongst many other measures they need to source and have fit tested fp3 respirators. This is immensely difficult. 

The local health boards have said because of the difficulties they will source fp3 respirators and fit test them for practices with nhs contracts. Given the problems with supply chains it is anybodies guess when this might happen. 

Private practices are left to source for themselves, and many practices who are mixed (50% of dentistry in Wales is done privately) have also tried to source and fit themselves. 

The other problem is if you are a single surgery practice the surgery has to be left for an hour after each patient who's had drilling before you can start to disinfect.

finally a practice has to have enough people who have no health or childcare problems and this applies to the dentist as well. 

whizzywoo

I very much like my dentist and don't want her practice to go out of business.  I've been with her for approx 15 years now and would not like to change to another.  I've had numerous dental problems for over 60 years and although I am anxious during a dental visit she keeps me calm. 

I've kept up my Denplan payments during the lockdown and I am going for a checkup next month.  So far there's been no mention of a charge for PPE but I would be happy to pay if necessary because I need my dentist.

Niv

£43 sounds excessive. Considering they already wear PPE to treat you (mask, gloves, disposable apron) and I do assume that they clean teh area down between patents under normal conditions so I am struggling to see where they need £43 of extra PPE from. Maybe they are upping the price for other reasons, such as reduced number of patents  but they should be making it clear.

brook2jack2

The masks dentists have to wear now have to be fp3 which are in very , very short supply , and have to be individually fit tested By a qualified fit tester on each member of staff. When supplies run out then you need to fit test on another type of mask .
Even ordinary surgical masks have gone up in price from £3 a box to £30 or more a box. 

Dentists now need to wear surgical gowns , aprons on top of scrubs for aerosol procedures along with hats, shoe covers etc 
Screens are fitted at reception, no touch thermometers provided to staff to scan patients. 

Many practices have bought foggers or air sanitisers to help with keeping aerosol down . 

After each aerosol procedure the surgery needs to be left for an hour before decontamination can be done, so a surgery is seeing less than 20% of the patients it would normally see but with increased overheads. 

For information here is what almost £300 of disposable fp3 masks looks like