What do you do for dentistry?

I just moved house and all the local ones are not taking on patients so traveling back to my old one. So 3h round trip on a crutch with a toddler. Asked the dentist why they have places. They are near Healthrow in a small clump of shops with 3 nhs dentist in the area. Whereas mine new locals are all on a busy long high street.

I just go private. I am not rich by any stretch but I just have to pay for private dentistry and make sure I've enough money aside for it. I didn't mind so much because I've had bad experiences with the NHS as a child, and I don't like pain, and It's worth it for that reason alone.

A couple of suggestions:

University medical centres that have a dentist on site sometimes have walk-in clinics for NHS patients, without having to be connected to the university.

Some areas have a special needs dentistry service based in hospitals or NHS clinics that take neurodivergent patients, patients with learning disability/developmental issues, or patients with PTSD/past trauma, as well as people with physical disabilities that make dentistry challenging, if any of that applies to either you or your son, OP.

If you do scrape the money together for a private check up but need a dental extraction, asking to be referred to a hospital clinic for the procedure itself means it will be free of charge (but you may wait a long time). I daresay provision is different in different areas though.

It's a disgrace what's been allowed to happen to NHS dentistry, and when you consider the relationship between oral health and wider physical health it's a false economy too.

Pay through the nose like everyone else

I pay privately as and when I need treatment.

I think NHS dentists find it increasingly difficult to make a decent living.

More of us need to factor dental costs in our living costs. I know we ‘shouldn’t have to’ but this is the reality. A colleague of mine needs a filling and has whinged about it for weeks as she cannot get a NHS dentist and says she cannot afford private. Funny how she can afford 4K on an all inc Turkey holiday in June. (tbf I did suggest she goes to a dentist there, probably cheaper).

I agree. I'm lucky to still have an NHS dentist but the scope of their services has drastically reduced post-pandemic and considering I still have to pay for check ups, emergency appointments and hygienist is only available privately, I am really thinking about going private as the costs are very similar or lower for what you get! Think about this OP, actually work out NHS fees vs private and what you and your DS can get. Unfortunately I think it really is false economy a lot of the time to stay on the NHS, and certainly to travel far away for it or not to have any check ups at all. You'll end up paying a lot more overall this way.

Sorry, it's a total shitshow everywhere!

I do too. My nhs dentist is 1 hour drive and 15 minutes walk
My work used to wonder where I'd actually gone when I went for a dentist appointment

Our dentist dropped all of its NHS clients just after Covid - I was lucky & heard about a dentist in our county taking on new NHS patients so called them & got on their books. However, it's a good 45-50 minutes drive away from where we live, so we go as family, all with back-to-back appointments & make a day of it.
Friends who weren't so quick off the mark have either had to go private or just stopped going to the dentist. That seems to be the only option now.

I travel 45 mins to get to my NHS dentist, basically haven't been able to get a local one since moving. If this one went private, I'd probably look at a dental plan with a private firm, unhappily!

I feel you OP, I have been in this exact boat and literally did just go without dental care for several years.

(DS is registered with an NHS special needs dental clinic and we are very fortunate to have such a service available to him).

Once I could afford it I registered at a private practice and have had to spend over two thousand pounds with them in the last couple of years. I am sure I could have avoided some of that if I had been able to get NHS dental care during those lapsed years.

I'm now with an NHS dentist after 8 months on the waiting list of every practise I could find within 20 miles. They are absolutely rubbish too. Refuse to complete all the treatments covered in one band within the time frame so I'm forced to pay repeated charges, and so concerned with upselling me private treatments that I genuinely mistrust their advice. However, I feel powerless as I need them a lot more than they do me.
It's a shocking state of affairs OP, that will likely have serious health repercussions in the future, with people needing to access far more costly treatments due to inability to access them at the early cheaper stages.
In a pinch, you can get a referral for emergency work via 111. It's about £25 for whatever you need to resolve the immediate problem. I had an extraction and antibiotic through this service. But I do feel with proper care the tooth might have been saved.

Bupa will take your son on. Travel if you have to

I've been on the practice plan of a private dentist for about a decade - because, like you, NHS provision just melted away. It's about £14 a month each for me and DH, then they register the kids for free NHS treatment because we are private. If the £10-15 a month isn't manageable then I think you're kind of screwed. It's an absolute shit show out there.

The closest dentist to where we are who is accepting new NHS patients is a 3 hour drive away! Dh went private. I have been sitting with a broken tooth for 2 months now (as even a broken tooth doesn't get you an urgent appt apparently). My plan is to register with a dentist in London near my head office and make appts around my work travel days. I also need to get on a waiting list locally. It may take years and I doubt NHS dental care will even exist then, but people have got to start dying off eventually and giving up their places.

I had to register as a Private patient for our dentist to take the DC on as NHS.
Now I pay £40 pm for Denplan for 3 adults, which I think is pretty good but may not be affordable for everyone

This i might be able to help with.

Rumour on fb groups is churchyard in mildenhall have started taking NHS. Worth a call.

Bury St Edmunds Dental Practice say online they are.

Baxters in Newmarket are taking under 17's according to fb rumours.

Theres a couple in Thetford apparently taking on.

Further affield cambridge smile studio is runoured to be taking on NHS patients.

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

Ask in local fb groups too as lot will take on for children in their area.

I don’t have an nhs dentist as there aren’t any in my area …. I have just had to pay hundreds for emergency dental treatment at a private dentist . I couldn’t afford it either so had to put it on a credit card . No option as tooth was infected and needed removing !

We just pay as we go - put £20 away each month. Then just have an appointment each year with a private dentist to check our teeth. Never had to have any treatment on top of that - I am really careful with dental care because I don’t want to have pay for anything!

My denplan is similar, 2 check ups and up to 3 hygienist appointments included. No charge for treatment unless lab work required. Alternatively try to set aside £10 pm to use as and when for private dentist. Some practices still take kids on nhs.

Denplan care, covers treatment too

When my son moved back I went on the NHS 'find a dentist' site every single day for about five months until one came up - it's not that close but doable for him. If you don't want to go private it is worth a crack.

For your son, dentists are more likely to take children on NHS than adults. Ring or ask around and look online on the NHD website for dentists that are taking children as NHS patients.

You sound like you dont go to the dentist very often yourself. So weigh up the need for private dental insurance vs just putting some money aside to cover emergency private dental treatment. Also worth looking further affield for an NHS dentist if you're only having yearly checkups and emergencies well i'd open my search up to about an hours drive away. Link it in with annual leave/school holidays/weekends if they do them.