Covid profiteering dentist.

[RipOffForNothing]

NC for this.

I'm pissed off at my dentist, I called today to make an appointment because my filling dropped out 3 weeks ago and now I'm in bloody pain, both top and bottom gums hurt.

I called up and got told, I've got to pay 7 pound for fuckin PPE. Nevermind the fact they are not the cheapest dentist anyway.

AIBU to think they are just profiteering?

I mean really a fuckin apron does not cost 7 pound. It's total bullshit. I did disagree down the phone but the short and sweet is, it's tough shit.

The dentist always wears an apron and mask anyway.

They are a private dentist as well as NHS. I'm private. I'm not saying that to sound stuck up, but to point out I do not pay NHS prices as is. I just think it's shady as fuck to be marking a apron up so much. I will be leaving them after this.

Yabvvvu

The mask is ffp3 face fitted now not their usual masks

The surgeries need a one hour 'fallow' period between patients before cleaning to let the aerosol settle on surfaces. So way less patients can be seen.

A lot of dentists donated all their ppe to covid wards/ nursing homes at the peak of the pandemic when there was a shortage.

The cost of ppe has absolutely spiralled - it's called supply and demand OP

Your argument that you buy your own face mask so dentist should too is completely bizarre. Do you understand how business works?

I'd be careful before deregistering and finding a dentist that charges less for ppe. £7 is very reasonable, you'll struggle to find one less than this.

Appreciate the NHS - you sound like you'd really miss it if it was gone OP

My dentist tried to cancel my appointment as they thought I was NHS and they have limited NHS slots (end of maternity leave). I told them I’m a full paying private client and got the same appointment back. So angry at them.

Oh, and I have to pay a £20 PPE charge.

I will very gladly pay the PPE charge. it’s the unfairness for NHS patients that I feel angry about.

How odd. We don't pay anything extra for PPE. Our basic dental is included in our medical insurance but we pay some additional things privately.

Wish I could do this. I'm a farmer. The staff have to wear dust masks (Aka ffp3 facemasks) in some roles. We get through a box a week. Firstly we cannot get them so have no choice but to get the inferior ffp2. Secondly they've gone from being £7-8 for a box of 20 to £70 ish.

Then there's the sanitizer and extra cleaning products that we're spending about £80 a month on.

Not seeing the food prices go up in the supermarkets are we?

I had a wisdom tooth extracted last week and me, the dentist and hygienist all worse big disposable long sleeved rubber gowns, a previous poster said they were £8 so that's £24 before the other costs. I'm NHS and didn't get asked to pay anything but would have understood if they had charged me.

There are currently 2 dentists at my practice, they used the third room for my procedure, with the down time before the room could be used again then it must be hard to fit people in.

£7 doesn't sound bad to me - other dentists are charging upwards of £30.

Also I had a sports massage the other week and the therapist told me she'd spent upwards of £2K on PPE. All after not receiving any income since March.

If you genuinely think someone is profiteering you can report them to the CMA but I don't think this dentist is. However, if one dentist can do it for £7 the ones claiming it's costing £35 are clearly taking the mick.

The cost of ppe has absolutely spiralled - it's called supply and demand OP Nope that's profiteering. The manufacturers are taking the mick too. I realise they may be employing more production lines and have some added costs but it doesn't mean a mask goes from costing 20p a go to £20. Yeah right.

Our NHS dentist is seeing the backlog of urgent cases first (no check ups yet) and did see my adult son. I don't think it was any more expensive than usual (and on the NHS) but they are not doing root canal work for now - there is a waiting list for that.

I wonder if testing will become a cheaper way? My son had to arrange (a free NHS) negative covid 19 test before his flight earlier this week as did every single other person on the plane and then on arrival they all had yet another covid 19 test.

Don’t be so ridiculous. PPE is necessary and extremely expensive, so no, they won’t be “profiteering”.

They won’t care that you’re leaving them; they’ll have a queue of people at the door waiting to take your place while you struggle to find elsewhere.

£7 is barely anything considering the amount of cleaning and PPE needed. My hairdresser added on £4. A dentist is far more risky and needs more cleaning/PPE.

Two visits to my privates dentist, PPE cost £25 extra each visit as well as being charged more for treatment (1 small filling and 1 med filling).

He said this was because he could only treat 5 patients a day so was loosing money, only one hour for treatment then an hour for the room to 'settle' then 30 mins to clean.

He was very pushy on getting another filling done, which was working out at almost double the normal charge as well as the PPE charge on top.

My private dentist is charging £37 PPE. I'm afraid that whilst I understand the need to have fewer patients, clean etc, I do think this an excessive additional price.

Our usual fluid resistant surgical masks have gone up from around £7 a box to £30 a box
If you need an aerosol procedure, eg drill, the FFP3 masks are between £3 and £7 each, surgical gowns are approx £3 each, you need shoe cover and hair covers, as well as providing basic PPE to the patient
Also the surgery has to remain unused for an hour fallow time after the appointment
Dentists on average are able to approx 30% of their usual volume of patients
Most dentists are not profiteering, just trying to cover their increased costs

Face shield around £2 each as well
All of this is single use and there are 2 people working in the surgery
As well as PPE for the patient

£28 at ours. You're getting a bargain! And it's not just aprons. They have all kinds of faff, full PPE for dentist and nurse, rubber sheets over mouths etc.

My dentist has spent a fortune installing state of the art ventilation air changers, wipe clean flat tablets for credit card processing, full PPE for all staff, and has had to massively cut the number of patients he can treat per day in order to allow time for air change and full covid disinfection of all surfaces, including the floor, between cases.
You seem to expect him to operate his business at a loss, which is unrealistic and foolish.
And he is not “profiteering” - my procedure last week was non aerosol generating, so I was not charged anything extra.

I don't think it's profiteering at all.

My additional cost per client is £3.28 minimum. Time between clients has had to double in order to adhere to government guidelines. I've added on £5, but in order to maintain the same level of income I would have had to add £13.28.

I don't work with anything like aerosols etc, so my ppe and cleaning requirements will be significantly less than a dentist's are.

@Ponoka7 My Dentist is only open to private patients, which I don't think should be allowed.

Why not? They’re running a business. If NHS patients don’t bring in any profit, why would they take them?

PPE costs way more than £7 - you're getting a bargain! I don't think you understand what PPE is.

FFS of course it's not profiteering! It'll cost them far more than that for all the PPE, they're just passing on some of the cost. It'll still be costing them!

My husbands bridge fell out 2 weeks after surgery in May. He finally got seen in July. There was no charge but appointment was for 1 hour, when the procedure took 30 minutes. I went last week for a check up, which is covered under Denplan, but my 20 minute appointment is now 30 minutes. I would have happily paid towards PPE, as they were completely covered up and if they do have to carry out any procedure, they have to wear a gown, which gets thrown away afterwards.

When my dentist is charging me £101 for 16 minutes in the chair to put in a temporary filling that needed no drilling ( a good job because they're currently not doing drilling), no X-ray, and no water to rinse with because you have to spit it out then I'm sorry but they do not need £5 for PPE. YANBU. Has anyone ever met a poor dentist ?

Between us, my private dentist is still charging £40 a month for membership benefits yet they aren’t open for clients and don’t know when they will be. At least yours is willing to see you!