What do you do for dentistry?

The only way forward is a complete overhaul of the current system: that’s what people need to be advocating for. At the moment the whole system is a complete mess. There seem to be 4 tiers: those who can afford to go private; those who are fortunate enough to already be on the books of an NHS dentist; those who have the luck/motivation/financial resources to find and travel afar to an NHS dentist; and finally, those who are low income/vulnerable and don’t have the luck/money/means for an NHS dentist (and in many cases can’t even afford NHS fees). It’s that latter group that’s really being let down by this shambles of a system.

I have a really affordable private dentist. Routine check ups are £40, fillings £110 and they only use white fillings.

I originally switched because my old NHS dentist was costing me a fortune by getting me to have treatments every single check up.

Forgot to say Canadian scheme is only for those who have an household income under approx £45,000 and have no insurance.

Dentists have been arguing for decades that the country cannot afford to provide a comprehensive dental service for all.

Most dentists think a core service of fillings , extractions and plastic dentures , would at least mean everyone could access treatment that will keep them out of pain , make it simpler to understand what is available on the NHS , and leave people to pay for treatment that is more complicated.

To put into context we spend around £2.5 billion a year to provide a "universal" dental service providing everything , the most someone will pay in England is £319.10 .

Canada has just set up a service for five years, costing £7.5 billion that will provide subsidised dental treatment where people on very low income and children will pay nothing but most will pay 40% to 60% of the market value of dental treatment and a filling in Canada costs £100 to £250 , a crown £800 . There is no cap on patient charge . Canada has around 50% of the population of the U.K.

We need to decide priorities , in my area children in pain needing a general anaesthetic face a wait of two to three years for treatment , yet 50% of children's dentistry budget is spent on orthodontics (braces).

The payment for NHS dentistry has fallen so low it would take a massive investment just to bring us back to 2006 levels , let alone 1997 levels when Tony Blair promised a dentist for all at the start of the funding crisis.

Quote: ‘NHS dentistry and the NHS in general can be saved with the political will to so. I'm REALLY not well off (income now so low I pay little direct income tax as I'm not much above the threshold), but I'd happily contribute more for better services. It seems to be those at the top who don't accept the extent of their social responsibilities.’

The system needs to be completely revamped so that those most in need can easily access free or reduced dental care. But you can’t keep flogging a dead horse. The good old days of yore are over. The current model of subsidised NHS dental care for all and sundry cannot be sustained. As a high rate taxpayer household, we already pay our fair share of tax for something we cannot access. I don’t want to pay more tax. Sorry.

I kept my dentist in the town we used to love in twenty miles away, I managed to get DS in over near here albeit the other side of town, I rang over fifty practices without success and then my work friend was going to hers and I said please ask them if they can take ds and they did. I think as they'd been her dentist for decades and he was a child who just couldn't find a dentist after COVID at two so they squeezed him in. DH and I continued to travel for ours, then DHs closed down, he had toothache the day he took ds for his check up explained and they registered him as DS' parent, the next time I took ds explained that DH and ds were their patients but my dentist was still twenty miles away and they registered me. We've been very lucky.

This won't help if you can't find an NHS dentist to start with! Although I have come across people that think any dentist needs to provide free treatment no matter what if they're pregnant. Including extensive cosmetic work.
Had a woman once book in at a fully private practice for a check up and Hygienist (i was the Hygienist). She was given the prices on the phone when she booked and in the confirmation email. She had the check up first and was given a printed quote for what she needed done including replacing a veneer at the front she didn't like. After the check up and Hygienist she went to book the next appointments and when told to pay she refused saying I'm pregnant you need to claim it from the NHS. No amount of explanation that we were a private practice with no NHS contract and besides Hygienist and cosmetic work aren't included anyway etc would help. She just refused to pay. The practice could have tried going down the debt collectors route but for £100 it was easier to write it off. But that meant I worked for free when seeing her. If the patient doesn't pay i don't get paid.

How will this help? If you’re pregnant you still have to pay at a private dentist!

We don't routinely, we just wait until something hurts then you can get seen on the NHS. I had a tooth pulled for free (I would have had to pay for a root canal) which was arrange via 111, and my youngest has been seen for cavities by paying £20 for a kids emergency appointment with a private dentist who then referred us to the NHS.

I can't believe this had happened with dentists, it's a worry about parts of the NHS now that so many medical experts seem to be doing private care in addition to their NHS roles. Unfortunately the only option seems to be to find one further away, far from ideal I know. Could citizens advice help maybe? Xx

Treatment should be free or heavily subsidised for those on low incomes.
Everybody else needs to start paying/budgeting to pay for their dental care in full. Universal dental care is dead. RIP.

I have a private dentist now because I can afford it and I just pay for my son too so we don't use the NHS.

I know plenty of other people who were children in the 60s and 70s who had similar experiences, although not all as bad as mine.

Many can't afford a private dentist either to fix the harm done to their own teeth or to get their children's teeth even checked.

The people I know are prioritising paying the council tax, food for the day and school shoes in my experience, not botox or holidays.

Our NHS dental practice wouldn't see patients for routine appointments 2020/2021 then when things went back to "normal" anyone ringing to be seen was told they had been removed from the list, as they hadn't been seen for over x amount of months.

The trick was to develop toothache during this time, which we did as had a sneaking suspicion this would happen.

So we still have an NHS dentist, however, the owner has gone part time, our dentist of 15+ years left to go private, a new dentist has taken over the practice and will take on new private patients only and seems to be going towards more private/cosmetic treatments/photos on IG etc. All the original staff seem to have gone elsewhere.

So who knows where we will be in another year or so. I would try to find a practice offering Denplan, but I've found a lot of them don't use that anymore, offering a practice-own plan that is more expensive instead.

Oh and I put my extra dental payments on a credit card. Denplan comes from the family pot. Not great but needs must. I am always concerned about when I'll need any extra work, but my dentist isn't a cunt and knows our circumstances, when I needed a tooth extraction they got me in with their part time nhs dentist for free.

Family of 4 with 4 different dentists. I'm private with denplan as I had issues which couldn't wait and couldnt get a nhs dentist, dc1 is with a SEN dentist thank fuck, dc2 is at a private dentist but on nhs as he's young the squeezed him in, dh is on nhs at a dentist a town over. Dh dentist was miracle, he'd actually been scheduling appointments in his home country before I got him in. Around here the local groups announce when someone finds nhs open spots amd we all fight for the space 😬

Might be worthwhile just getting pregnant.

My teeth are a mess and my dentist went private so I had to get a dental plan and just pay that every month. Some Fillings and X-rays are included in the plan.if I needed anything more than that then I wouldn’t be able to afford it even at nhs prices so it wouldn’t make any difference. At least with the dental plan my teeth are getting better quality preventative care so I’m hopefully less likely to need any major work!

I’m on a low income but I have no other choice and don’t spend money on myself for nice clothes or going out so I kind of feel like I can justify the £40 a month to stop my teeth falling out. My kids are still registered as nhs patients at another practice but will only get seen once every 12 months now under the new nhs system!

I am on benefits, and am meant to get NHS dental treatment free... but there are no NHS dentists where I am. And I can't afford to go private.

I'm in Somerset. There is not one NHS dentist in the whole county. It's awful. We're not set up for private. In countries where you pay, many employers offer health and dental insurance as a benefit. We can't just pay, we've already paid through taxes.

I thought this was the norm now? Even my parents as pensioners have to pay a monthly plan. Do people still get free dental treatment? I suppose if on benefits assume the few NHS dentists are for this reason, to be able to provide the service needed so are you able to find one in your area? Doesn't it come under the NHS as a service anymore? These dental plans don't seem worth their money, 2 checkups a year and a bit of hygiene plus paying the extra tooth care, doesn't seem worth it but have to pay it. Xx

Same. £70 return journey on the train, two hours each way but still cheaper than going private.

Same situation here. I haven't seen a dentist for 4 years but have seen a private hygienist twice.

@HumanRightsAreHumanRights That’s horrific what that dentist did to you. He was probably doing the same to lots of other people. I hope he was eventually caught and struck off. I hope you get your dental needs sorted. However, I stand by what I said. A lot of dental issues are preventative and can be attributed to poor dental hygiene. If you brush, floss (use a water flosser — they’re a great modern invention) and book a couple of dental hygienist appointments a year to identify any issues before they snowball out of hand, you’ll never get to the stage where you have to spend hundreds or thousands on dental care in one go. Yes, the hygienist appointments will probably have to be booked privately because NHS dental is in dire straits: but that’s the situation at the moment. So many people are willing to pay for things like botox, fillers, hair appointments, eating out, holidays, etc, etc., yet they baulk at having to pay £80 once or twice a year for a dental hygienist appointment. A poster above mentioned her colleague who booked a £4000 holiday to Turkey, but was complaining that she couldn’t get subsidised NHS dental care. This woman is not an anomaly. Lots of people have poor oral hygiene and prioritise other things over paying for basic dental care.

Sorry to see this

See, this sort of stuff is the real issue. People suffering.

Any other health problem, you can book a GP appointment, or go to urgent care/A&E.

Tooth/oral stuff... no dentist and no money... you are fucked.

A chunk of tooth fell out today. I have no idea what to do. I can't get an NHS dentist and am so broke I can't afford even a check up at a private one never mind any work done.

I tried to get insurance a few years ago but they wouldn't pay out as I have so many pre existing conditions. I'm just going to pray it doesn't start hurting.