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?

I pay c £18 pcm private dentist to a plan. Gives me two check ups a year free plus two hygienist cleans.

I get good discount if any work needs doing. Last year £120 a white filling. After the pandemic £300 a tooth extraction and a repeat crown.

Well worth it I feel.

We pay, DH has a monthly plan that covers check ups and hygienist twice a year, I just pay as I go as I only need to go once a year (thanks mum for never letting me have fizzy pop or sweets as a child!)

Same here. I feel sorry for OP but more generally I feel some people waste money on unnecessary things like fancy clothes and entertainment and exotic holidays.
Not eve ⁶ryone I know. Some do struggle.
But you can get perfectly adequate clothes in Primark or supermarkets.
And don't need to pay for extra TV services.
Dental care needs to be a priority.
It shouldn't be so expensive but while it is I think other things come way down the list.

They don’t care. They are paid to provide not even the bare minimum of anything. If someone never comes back they’re delighted.

I wouldn’t let one near me - nor most NHS doctors either. I prioritise my insurance above all else. It went up last year so I cut my home to cover it.

I know some people can’t even do that as they’re on the breadline already. It’s not fair.

I could cancel my Netflix and the odd Costa, and still not be able to afford the dentist.
I am on benefits, so should get free NHS dentistry. But there are no NHS dentists. If I cut out everything that makes my shit like a little better, I would still not be able to afford to go private.

Don’t go to the dentist anymore.

I have bupa through work, this covers dental care. All work is done private and paid for and I get to claim back roughly 80% of that. No chance of an nhs dentist in my area! Kids also covered which I pay on top of what the company pays.. worth every penny.

DH and I go to an NHS dentist but we pay privately because they agree that our foster DC can be on the NHS until 18.

My dentist recently told me when my tooth cracked open it was due to the old NHS fillings. I've had it replaced with a white filling but had to pay privately for it.

We pay privately. The nearest NHS dentist is 3 hours drive away. Our dentist sees the DC for free as they are under 18 and DH and I pay £60 every 6 months - £240 a year for check up / prevention. We treat it as any other direct debit. I'd rather have dentistry than sky sports or an expensive mobile

We go private.

For my DD I just pay for her appointments as they're only about £20 and she is a toddler so no work needing doing.

For me I pay about £15 a month which covers 2 check ups and 2 hygienist appointments per year.

I don't think it's a credit agreement as such, but not sure. If that's not available to you, you could save a monthly amount into something like a Monzo pot so you have the money sitting waiting when you need it.

Private on a monthly plan

Pay privately and hope that it doesn’t cost too much! If I needed anything more than a filling it would probably have to be put on a credit card. Our health insurance now covers 1 dental check up and up to £300 worth of treatment per year, it’s not much but every little helps.

No NHS dentists available where I live and the nearest private dentist taking on patients is a 7 hour round trip. I need several teeth sorting out so it would be several appointments. I can't face doing the journey over and over again so I'm ignoring it for now. Hoping in vain that something will change.

I’ve had a cash plan previously (which covered the kids as well when they were under 18). You pay a monthly fee and then certain medical expenses are reimbursed (dentist, glasses, physio, etc). Now that the kids are adults it’s no longer cost effective so I just pay as I go along. I haven’t needed anything other than checkup and hygienist for a long time (over 10 years). I put my son’s braces on a 0% credit card and paid it off monthly.

The same as @Iamallowedtodisagreewithyou

My dental plan is three quid cheaper per month. When I needed a root canal and crown, and also an existing crown replacing, it cost about two grand, which I put on a credit card as I have no savings.

https://www.nhsinform.scot/care-support-and-rights/nhs-services/dental/receiving-nhs-dental-treatment-in-scotland/

Nope. Noone should be paying for dental check ups.

We pay, but £25 for a check up seems quite reasonable compared to some of the prices on this thread. Dentist is happy for me to have one check up per year, but two visits to the hygienist.

You get dental insurance.

I don't go for check ups etc. I just pray something doesn't go wrong that causes pain. My dh hasn't been for about 6 years since our nhs dentist closed. I went a couple of times but it was so expensive. So we just focused on the kids sixth monthly check up.

I paid about £3500 last year for a root canal, two crowns and one medium sized filling but what really stuck in my craw was paying £95 for him to look at my broken tooth and tell me yes it did need filling and to make another appointment to have it filled for £325. I'd sort of hoped that the first "emergency" appointment was included in the price. I really hope I don't need any fancy dentistry done this year as I absolutely must get new glasses, I can't put it off anymore.

NHS charges:

Band 1: £26.80
Band 2: £73.50
Band 3: £319.10
https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/how-much-will-i-pay-for-nhs-dental-treatment/

One thing I feel that can help your teeth is making sure you have a plentiful supply of Vitamins C and D (preferably through sunshine). Also magnesium and iodine (we are very deprived of iodine in this country).
I'm never sure why dentists don't tell people this.

Because once teeth are formed in late pregnancy and childhood calcium etc is not taken in or out so taking supplements makes no difference to teeth at all.

You would have to be so deficient in vitamin c you would have scurvy to affect the gums .

Iodine deficiency is rare in people born in the U.K. and the effects on gums are as a consequence of endocrine problems.

Of far more significance is the U.K. intake of sugar , 80% of children have double the daily recommended sugar intake and in adults the problem is worse with 79% having three sugary snacks a day https://www.nature.com/articles/s41404-024-2832-5

in terms of gums smoking , vaping and diabetes , particularly poorly controlled diabetes are the big problems .

It’s not what we are not eating that’s the problem , it’s what we are eating that matters .

The caveat is that , for general health, the government recommends all U.K. people take vitamin d in winter.

I'm interested to hear about everyone paying into monthly dental plans.

Ive been with the same private dentist since 2008 and whenever i ask him about joining, he says "oh no, that'll be no good for you." When i ask why, he says its because I have so much work done. <confused>

He also uses poor quality materials (amalgam fillings and metal crowns) even though i say I'm happy to pay for the best.

It's odd and I'm looking forward to him retiring soon so the junior partners can take over.