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?

@Crushed23 I cut my own hair. I know lots of women who do the same. Why do you think hair in a ponytail is such a popular style?

We have no dentists anywhere near us.

I pay for the children to have check ups every year. I go without. I have crumbling teeth.

Not sponsored but I started using the biomin f toothpaste after reading about it
A few weeks ago I had really bad tooth pain which wouldn't settle and I'm actually booked to have it possibly extracted end of the month

The pain has gone, and it didn't even shift with naproxen and sensodyne but this biomin f stuff has been amazing. It's not the cheapest but even once a day I'm going to keep using it

Many people seem to pay a monthly fee for a plan, but if you pay around £35 a month thats £420 a year...so you dont get 'free' hygienist and check ups, you can shop around and pay a lot less. my private dentist charges £40 for a check up and £60 for hygienist so that total is £200 a year, for 2 of each...the check up and hygienist, and i have found that any discount on treatements is wiped out by the higher costs e.g. crown is appx £750 and I can find for about £500 elsewhere...conclusion these dental plans dont actually save you any money ..unless anyone has a really cheap one with low cost treatments....i spent days looking into all these plans and all were not worth it...i will continue to get most of my dental work done in spain, poland and turkey !

I pay £18 a month for 2 check ups and 2 hygienist visits.

So that’s £200 a year worth (not including x ray’s but they do these regularly too and they don’t cost extra )

So it’s pretty similar to paying for 2 check ups and 2 hygienist visits a except I also get a discount on treatment.

I am not comfortable having treatment in Turkey as I don’t know it well enough to seperate the bad from the good.

Eastern Europe I would consider though should it ever come up - I would check any work I needed against the cost here with my discount.

I'm on a waiting list for private dentists in my area. No NHS ones. I see a hygienist once a year, who would advise if there is anything concerning, and have dental cover on my horse insurance (for me, not the horses!), and I just have to hope I don't need anything doing!

I pay £27 a month (I think! Might be £25)
Call it £325 a year

Covers 2 check ups and 2 hygienist appointments. Under that I've also had 3 additional appointments this year, an old filling removed and replaced, a new filling, a wisdom tooth out and some cosmetic bonding on 2 teeth. Plus a new mould for my mouthguard

well that sounds better, what company is that with , thnks.

@bumblebee1000 it's denplan but the denplan care one (I don't think many dentists offer it)

A nice update here. I now have an NHS dentist! One posted on a local FaceBook group that they had a few spaces, and my boyfriend called them and got an appointment sorted for me.
Of course I am really nervous about it and worried they will say need all my teeth removing. I hope they can tackle on issue at a time. I am so worried about being judged.

As of April 2024, the NHS dental charges in England are:

Band 1: £26.80
Band 2: £73.50
Band 3: £319.10
Emergency dental treatment: £26.80
Regulation 11 replacement NHS dental appliances: £95.70 for one appliance or £191.40 for two

The cost of NHS dental treatment depends on the type of treatment required.

What is covered by each band?

Band 1
Includes an examination, diagnosis, advice on prevention, a scale and polish, and preventative care
Band 2
Includes everything in Band 1, plus fillings, root canal work, or tooth removal
Band 3
Includes everything in Bands 1 and 2, plus crowns, dentures, bridges, and other laboratory work

A few dentists near me are now taking NHS.....according to local social media groups but...try getting anything more than a check up out of them...the usual story is being peddled...." We dont have funding now for that root canal or crown but can do it privately tomorrow at a cost of £600 etc etc...."
Friend was told this week she can have a nhs crown fitted at front of mouth but it would be a silver metal one....of course the porcelain type is available on private basis for over £600...she is going to contest this.....
all very sneaky now !!

This has always been the case with my nhs dentist. You get the basic one on NHS but if you want a porcelain one you have to pay. I had to pay £400 for a porcelain crown with my nhs dentist about ten years ago, same with all my white fillings.

I’m halfway through fitting of a NHS porcelain crown on my lateral incisor (I had to look that up) for £319.10

i do a mixture of NHS/Private but private was newly £900. Biggest difference was that they send you to clinic to colour match your teeth

i went NHS and my dentist spent a lot of time colour matching the colour. They all looked the same to me!

This one is visible, smile line, i have had porcelain white crowns fitted at front of mouth on nhs band 3. didnt have to go private for those.

Our NHS dentist has just gone private, there's none for 20 miles, and then it's waiting lists.

We now pay monthly £7.50 per child, £12.50 per adult (£40/month total). One check up, one hygienist each.

It's a huge difference for us - once a year £52 for two adults on the NHS and now it's £480 a year privately with no extras. He is a good dentist though.

If we can ever find another NHS practice we'd join again, it's just too much money and a stretch for us as a family.