To think Dentists are the new Lawyers/Estate Agents

[dougieroseagain]

ie social pariahs.

I am trying to find a good dentist. Well, any dentist. We moved regions and I left behind my lovely dentist where my kids went free and I paid (as a private patients) really quite reasonable rates.

I am now trying to register in the new area and the rates are extortionate.

£29 for a kid's check up.
£110 for me. For a check up.

I found another dentist where it was £20 for a kid's check up but they wanted to sell me their plan which costs £5 a month. ie £60 a year. But my kids' teeth are fine - they don't have fillings and the previous dentist was delighted with their teeth. So why should I pay £60 a year when 2 check ups will cost £40 a year?

THIS is why sodding American dentists can afford to spend $35,000 killing a lion.

I have found a reasonably priced dentist about 20 miles from where we live, but there is a registration waiting list of 5 months. I'm not suprised - it's the only dentist in the area which still has NHS places for kids and the check ups are only £18 for an adult.

THIS IS WHY THE NATION'S TEETH ARE FALLING APART. Dentists are pricing normal people out of going to the dentist. Yes, I know they have to buy the equipment and keep the place hygienic. But £110 for a check up is ridiculous.

All dentists within 5 miles of where I live are refusing new NHS patients. Most have gone completely private.

I can't help thinking that dentists who trained in the 1990s and earlier, and so had grants/their tuition fees paid by the state, should be a little more public spirited. But I suppose it's a business like any other now.

NHS dentistry possibly won't be a thing for much longer.

So, only the rich have an education and nice teeth. Unless they're forced into a dental plan a la USA.

holds head in hands and weeps for the nation's teeth

I suspect the nations teeth are falling a apartbecause of poor diet and lack of proper dental hygiene.

Because my parents had sweet rationing during the war, never had a filling hardly and still have their own teeth in their 80s.

Obviously some dental work has nothing to do with decay but most of it is I suspect?

And a lot of the cosmetic stuff that gets done could be argued to be unnecessary?

I should add that I know there are conditions that do require dental treatment that have nothing to do with diet etc. but surely most decay (as in falling apart teeth) is due to sugary food and bad brushing?

If I'm wrong then dental experts can tell me?

Wow OP, if you think dentists are social pariahs, what do you think of drunk drivers and paedophiles?

Seriously though, echo the point about people needing to look after their own teeth and ward off the need for treatment by going for regular check ups.

Um, my dentist, (in America), charges $45, so about £30, for a full cleaning and check-up for an adult. So watch your assumptions about big-game-hunting American dentists.

My DH is a dentist. He is one of relatively few dentists who still does NHS work out if his university cohort. The current contract is shit and the new one will probably be crapper. That's a governmental issue - so take it up with your MP.

The dentist "selling" the plan is essentially selling private insurance. He probably doesn't do NHS work - quite entitled not to. If you don't want take out the insurance - that's fine. He's offering an option

I'm a lawyer (on mat leave) and I really find your post quite offensive. I think DH and I both carry out good and valuable work. DH would make a lot more money if he simply did private work but he chooses to keep an NHS contract as he feels an obligation to give back. Plus he's just completed a tongue tie course - is stowed out with work with that - bit has said to any referring midwives that he will carry out a number of procedures for free if they have people they want to refer who genuinely cannot afford to pay as NHS waiting times are crap (know through bitter experience). But, hey, he's just a grabby bastard as am I, of course.

I was told by my dentist that being in pain is no longer sufficient reason to get an emergency appt

There is no way that can be right!

Have seen dentists whose work is so bad I wouldn't trust them to water my plants let alone fix my teeth. Yet they are allowed to work for the nhs.

I think that the state should pay for the training of new dentists and they should have to work for the nhs for 15 years before being allowed to work privately!

Also - do you have any idea - at all - about how much it actually costs to run a dental practice?

You do know that the whole £110 does not go into the dentist's pocket? And - also - it is quite a skilled profession? Or maybe you think they all spend 5 years at uni and do a VT year because they're all a bit thick?

Have seen dentists whose work is so bad I wouldn't trust them to water my plants let alone fix my teeth. Yet they are allowed to work for the nhs.

Presumably you made a complaint about this and referred these dentists to the GDC of it couldn't be resolved? I mean, rather than making wildly sweeping statements on the internet that every single dentist in the UK is incompetent

Irrelevant how much it costs to run - the point is we have paid for it via taxation and are now having to pay for it again at the point of delivery . That's if you can find an nhs dentist!

It is very offensive to label a group of professions as "social pariahs".

Nothing like a good sweeping generalisation though to start the day off

Lawyer here - very offensive OP.

I paid less for dental insurance in the UK than I did for my TV and wireless package - I know which one I value more.

I didnt say every single dentist. For a lawyer are a lawyer, you dont seem to read or comprehend very well!

I have complained to the surgery and am seeing a different dentist within the same surgery. Am in the awkward posotion of not wanting to alienate the management too much because I cannot afford private care.

It's not irrelevant how much it costs to run at all. It's not a charitable service where dentists work for free. Dentistry has never been paid for fully at the point of taxation. It's a subsidised service.

The person charging £110 is (I'm assuming) a private dentist, therefore any tax take is entirely irrelevant to him.

The reason a lot of dentists don't want to do NHS work is it actually costs them to do as the contract values are so poor. Are you honestly saying that not only should dentists work for free, they should take on unprofitable contracts and subsidise patients?

I can't write . Thank fuck I'm not a lawyer

I think it has been fully paid for via taxation. I don't remember my parents paying for it back when I was a kid. Not essential treatment. Maybe cosmetic treatment

Having had the good fortune to have met some very good dentists and even lawyers and estate agents, I think YABU (& goady).

You also seem to have found a really expensive dentist. Mine is private, lovely and around £50 for a check up (& often doesn't charge if it's a really quick query).

sometimes - you said:

"I think that the state should pay for the training of new dentists and they should have to work for the nhs for 15 years before being allowed to work privately!"

Ie - current dentists are incompetents and therefore new training should be provided. No?

I must, DH would have loved free state training. He left uni with circa 50k of debt!

Sorry, to answer your question, I think true costs should be paid by the state. I don't expect going to work to cost people money. But, if their training has been paid for by the state (and I do think it ought to be), then I believe they owe the state their expertise in return.

Ah "les dents Anglais" ...

No. I mean that there is clearly a shortage of nhs dentists. We should train more and tie them in to contracts so they can cover the shortage.

Sometimes - there was always a charge for adult dental work (apart from check-ups) going back to when even I was a kid 60s/70s.

The only people who got free dental work was children and pregnant women.

Obviously, if your dh covered all his own costs, he is under no obligation to work for the nhs

sometimes -

Babies asleep here so I'm off to research when charges were introduced. My understanding is that there was always a minimal charge bit I will check. eyes history of dentistry book in book case