If you have no access to NHS dentistry, what do you do?

[applegatebanana]

I live in a region with no NHS dentistry. There's no waiting lists to sit on etc. no dental hospitals. No NHS input for children etc. there just isn't any NHS dentists any more - you can get emergency input if you fit the criteria but it's just a patch up job until you see a proper dentist. We were kicked off the books around a year ago as they went totally private and thats the general theme for all here.

I need some dental work doing. I'm just trying to figure out what non NHS folk do?

Prices are around:
Appointment - £100
Hygienist - £85
X-rays - £75
Extraction - £325
Crown - £850
Filling £150-250

How do you pay for it? Is there something I'm missing? Dental insurance doesn't seem to be much of a thing and paying in instalments relies on good credit as it's a finance agreement which isn't something to take on easily.

They have a monthly cost you can pay but that just covers the check up / hygienist and for the 4 of us is over £100 per month and we'd still have to pay for all treatments as needed.

What do you do for private dental input?

People either go with out seeing a dentist, and live with painful deteriorating teeth, or just have basic care eg check ups but no hygienist, filling or extraction and no crown, and put it on credit cards/get in debt.

i go private.

It's £25 a month including any dependant children and includes two check ups and two hygienist visits per year. Work has to be paid for but do get a 10% discount if you're a member.

We prioritise health though, don't spend on deliveroo, takeaway, sky tv, nails etc etc, not saying you do, just saying i think it's quite do-able.

I’m in a similar situation (haven’t been able to see a dentist in 7 years) but luckily I have managed to get my 2 dc registered 45 mins away.

My once lovely teeth are now deteriorating (3 pregnancies in the 7 years has taken its toll on my teeth) however I did have a permanent filling done via 111 a few months ago. I was in agony and had to wait 2 weeks for an emergency appointment and was told it would just be a temporary fix or they pull the tooth, however apparently it’s at the dentists discretion and when I turned up they very kindly did a filling for me. I actually cried…

Lots here travel to the nearest nhs -50 miles for some

I also can’t register to pay monthly for private, as I’ve been told I need to pay to have any outstanding work done (which would be extensive and costly!) before I would be eligible for the monthly payment/denplan.

Yes they will make you do all the necessary work first, any extractions or fillings. but after that initial cost it all settles down and if you have the work done and twice yearly checks thats ususally all you need.

We’re with NHS now as we finally made it up the waiting list, but before that we paid the private costs for us and our DC. We are lucky we can afford it though if we have to.

I pay for private on my credit card then pay it off.

Same here, one less takeaway a month is worth having healthy teeth to me.

To be honest those prices more or less what I pay as an NHS patient - I know I'm really lucky btw, but it still costs

Dental health is a priority for me so I pay for it as needed. I was with an NHS dentist but like so many others I was kicked off because I hadn’t been in 18 months over Covid despite them telling us all not to make appointments because of covid!

I went private with the intention of paying monthly but they said I couldn't do that until all the work they said needed doing was done.
It still isn't all done, because it's too expensive, and they did say it wasn't absolutely necessary at this stage.
You do hear of people flying to Poland or wherever to go to the dentist.

We don't have takeaways each month so that doesn't help

Dentistry is another example of how private health care doesn't work for all

Pay private. Last year it was £4600 for the work I needed done. I got a credit card with two years interest free until April 26 and am paying £300 a month off it.

I refused to pay private, and luckily I got an NHS place but it’s a 40 minute drive away. But I’m happy with that.

Doesn;t have to be a takeaway.

Have you really got no wiggle room to shift £25 a month around on your budget?

It also used to cover 3 dependant children when they were living here with me. From 18-25 they were then charged a young persons £13 monthly fee and at 25 went on to adult price.

We pay
and have to pay for the teens
H gets dental insurance just for him covered via his employment conditions

If you have good teeth it's not too bad.

My DD has great teeth.

No fillings ever, no pain, no hygienist needed. Just a check up each year.

She missed three years during Covid with no issues.

If you have shit teeth like me then it's expensive.

Did you miss the part where all outstanding work has to be done before you can get insured? My nhs dentist closed in my area 26 years ago. I have 4 impacted wisdom teeth, 4 large fillings with one requiring a root canal. Over 2k of work before I can go private

My reply was to someone else, as quoted. Hope you get your teeth sorted soon x

So a yearly check up plus two hygienist appointments costs £270 a year. Most people won’t need much else doing most years if they look after their teeth. That’s £22.50 a month. I don’t think that’s unmanageable for most people, it’s just a case of priorities (and the mental block many people seem to have about paying for anything they think should be provided by the NHS, even if the result is them suffering).

Prices are around:
Appointment - £100
Hygienist - £85
X-rays - £75
Extraction - £325
Crown - £850
Filling £150-250

My family are lucky enough to have NHS dentistry, but I'm actually surprised that the prices aren't hugely different.

A checkup is around £26, hygienist was around £50. X rays are free, my last filling was around £300.
The obvious kicker is that we don't have to pay a penny for the kids. It's another thing to add to the monthly budget

I pay for a check up once a year and I have a 3-tooth denture not implants. I use dental tools I bought from the internet to scrape off any tartar buildup. Last time I had an appointment to have my teeth cleaned they couldn't find any tartar to remove, so that was a win.

Oooh what are these tools please @FlatErica ?

We found a private dentist that would take the kids as NHS. I have a yearly check up that costs £50, they recommended a hygienist once for about £60 but I've never needed anything more than that doing. They have been brilliant for the kids.

Shop around for a private practice and you might find one that is cheaper.