What do you do for dentistry?

I finally have an NHS dentist and have my first appointment in 4.5 years in month!

We've not been able to get a NHS dentist for 6 years, I was paying for Denplan, going for check ups/cleans twice a year but my dentist charged me for the hygienist last time, saying I needed a deeper clean! Wanted over £500 for 2 white fillings that were not even visible.

I now go to the dentist ( I did my research) when I go to Thailand on holiday and have the work I need done there, last time ... check up, x-rays, 2 composite fillings, clean & polish, whitening and 2 composite veneers cost me £237 they even gave me painkillers in that price, checked in with me a few days after and had a open door if I had an issue etc I had it all done in 1 sitting, my old dentist quoted me in excess of 4k.
Not an ideal situation :(

On a monthly Bupa plan. It’s expensive but I do go the hygienist every quarter. My teeth are rubbish partly due to the appalling NHS dentistry I had in the 1970’s as a child. Very much “drill and fill”. I had to pay for glasses/contact lenses once I became an adult and think dentistry could go the same way. I think all children should have free good quality dentistry that should set them on the right course in adult life, but it’s yet another thing where you ask the question, can we really afford to pay for the whole adult population of the UK to have at least partly subsidised dentistry?

I am still with an NHS dentist as they haven’t changed to private. DH and DS dentist went private last year. DH and DS were just phoning round and assumed they would have to pay privately, made an appointment at one and was told it was an NHS one. This was in village about 2 miles away, they were surprised but very pleased.

I will need some extensive treatment in the future to replace a bridge I had fitted 25 years ago. It’s a six unit bridge as lost teeth in an accident as a teenager. This is a long time for a bridge to be in place, the first one lasted 14 years . To have what I really would like is not possible on the NHS at all, dental implants. I am seeing a colleague of my dentist for a second opinion on what is actually feasible. Then I have to make a decision for when the time comes on do I go denture or pay for a new bridge, which may not be feasible due to bone loss or am I suitable for implants. My friend had a bone graft and an implant recently and one tooth cost 5k. I would probably need bone grafts for the two implants and also four new crowns so it would probably be 15k minimum.

Same boat here, my dentist went private at during covid so haven’t had once since as they just aren’t taking on - hated them anyway! If I have an issue I guess it’ll just be urgent care dentist.

I did manage to get my son into one taking on under 17s only. He desperately needs braces, current wait is around 3 years, he’s gutted and I’m worried he’ll age out before he gets them but I cannot afford the £3,000 private fee for them.

Labour had a meeting with the British Dental Association in early july.

imho by the next GE, nothing will have changed and we'll have a series of new promises.. that wont be kept.

We are fortunate to have it through DH work and covers quite a lot and all emergency works as well. Just nothing cosmetic like bonding etc. it includes teeth straightening too.

@Rolson77 have you tried https://www.gooseberrydental.co.uk/

I know someone who just got in here on NHS

I was in the same position quite a few years ago. I pay monthly for Denplan and as my teeth are not in bad condition I have only once had to pay any extra (for a crown). I have had 2 extractions, a filling or two and a root canal filling in that time (it's probably 15-20 years ago and I am now 63 so have wear and tear on my teeth), plus annual x-rays, and I haven't had to pay any extra for any of those.

Hi there,
I understand how challenging it can be to access affordable dental care. While I’m based in Arizona, I can suggest a few options that might help:

1. Community Dental Clinics: Check if there are local clinics offering sliding scale fees based on income.
2. University Dental Schools: They often provide lower-cost services performed by students under supervision.
3. Payment Plans: Ask local dentists if they offer payment plans or discounts for those on universal credit.
4. Preventive Care: Maintain good oral hygiene at home to prevent costly treatments later.
5. Travel Considerations: If you must travel, try to find any first-time patient discounts or special offers.

Technically, I have an NHS dentist. In reality, the checkups are at NHS prices but everything else is private. If you need a filling, they no longer do amalgam ones so you have to pay £200 for a white one.
I am someone whose mouth was filled with metal fillings in the 70s/80s. Over the past 10 years I've had these replaced with white fillings and/or glass onlays. None of that was cheap but the standard of work was very high. I am hoping these teeth will see me out! I do try to save a bit of £ every so often for the dental fund.

Try simply health, my dentist recommended them over Denplan anyway.

Not a chance. Scotland is as bad as England, NI and Wales are worse .
Different parties have been in power in all the home countries , all have paid lip service to NHS dentistry , all have neglected it so we are now in crisis.

Dentists have been warning since 1992 that something needs to be done. We warned in 2006 that the new contract was unworkable. Every pilot since has been unworkable and we have warned that they are a waste of time and money .

Dental access centres were opened with salaried dentists and NHS running and paying bills. A course of treatment ended up costing £480 as opposed to £36 in general practice.

The latest wheeze is to have therapists doing the majority of the work with dentists just doing complicated work. Has been done already with the problem therapists were not happy to work at the rate and for the money that a young dentist would (not surprisingly ) on the NHS but the biggest problem is what NHS pays does , increasiningly, not cover what it costs to run a dental practice , let alone pay anyone.

It would require a massive amount of cash to bring dentistry back to even what was happening in 2006 and no party is willing to do that. It would be political suicide to admit we can’t afford a universal dental service and we would be better focusing on a core service that would get anyone out of pain and healthy and leave complicated stuff to be done privately .

Instead they are choking NHS dentistry to death and blaming dentists for not wanting to work themselves to death and bankruptcy.

European dentists have gone home or gone private because they cannot believe how they are expected to work in NHS dentistry , how litigious the U.K. is and how powerful and vindictive the GDC (general dental council) is.

Not strictly true. Within months of the new contract rolling out it was apparent that it was crap. There have been numerous pilot schemes to change things but none have been judge a solution.
Add to this the pandemic, when it became apparent that NHS dentistry was actually quite important. So much so that we had to return to work face to face a lot sooner than most other parts of the service. You cannot treat dental emergencies with medication.
2020 was the year that proposed changes to the contract were going to be seriously considered. As per normal it was all shelved and some small adjustments made last year.

With Labour returning maybe they will fix the mess.

Is this worth doing?

Same thing happened to us, our dentist went private so we left. I managed to find and NHS dentist for ds (11) but couldn't find one for dd (19) and me so we currently have no dentist.

Exactly - Conservatives have watched this happening over the last 14 years, and taken zero corrective action! I despair.

I choose to go privately.

I am quite a tricky patient as I had to have extensive jaw surgery a few years back, still have issues with a jaw joint so I want a dentist and hygienist who give me enough time to deal with my specific needs, rather than a rushed NHS appointment.

I just had a check-up and panoramic X-ray, dealt with a permanent retainer that had come loose and that was about £95. Hygienist is next. Dentist took a lot of time to give me advice on how to better brush and floss and it is a lovely, friendly practice.

Thankfully no issues so won't have to do anything else this year.

I just don’t get dental care.

Children are private and that costs me enough.

Actually between 500 and 700 patients is around average for a dentist doing private treatment. My NHS list was around 3000!

One of the reasons dentists convert to private is that the rate at which you have to work on the NHS takes its toll mentally and physically and is not sustainable over a career. It's not the newly qualified who are converting ,who don't have the portfolio and experience to go private, but the experienced dentists who should be the ones buying ,running NHS practices and training the new generation of dentists.

Having far fewer patients means you don't have to have sit and wait toothaches, double booked patients , months wait for appointments , you can have much longer appointments , you don't run late as often and can have a lunch break and finish on time. All of which makes the job much less stressful.

@PKNI
"My dentist has 1500 patients on her personal list - Denplan scheme will be available to first 600 who sign up, the other 900 will be able to get only private treatment"

This sounds like a sneaky way of scaring her patients into signing up straight away. I don't believe for one minute that they will close the Denplan list when it gets to 600.

I don't think that's true. EU dentists can still work over here at least for now. If they chose to go back to Poland or wherever after brexit that's fine but they could have continued to work and still can.

My DD was born in 1999, she has never had an NHS dentist, the situation was dire long before Labour, its now worse.

One reason is that after Brexit, professional qualifications weren't recognised for EU dentists, our local Polish dentists who whilst 'private did treat children very cheaply, packed up and went back to Poland after Brexit.

NHS dental treatment fees have hardly risen at all since 2006, £26 for a filling? needs to be around £100 at the very least.

Dental Services in the UK, do however, show what happens when we move from a state service to a private one.

The UDA system that has killed NHS dentistry was brought in by Tony Blair in 2006. Conservatives haven’t changed a thing since then.