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.

@DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon, I don’t have any problem with dentists. I have a problem with healthcare professionals trained by the NHS at vast expense to the public purse not contributing to the system to which they owe their skills. It’s hardly an unreasonable point of view.

I also stand by my point that NHS dentists were paid more than 80% of normal earnings during closure, with no need to purchase any consumables. I don’t think many people would think that is too harsh ( especially considering the sums of money involved) .

Comments like yours make me want to cry. You have NO IDEA how tough this has been for our profession. Paid 80% of nhs pay doesnt to even BEGIN to cover our costs! What about our outgoings? That hasn't changed? Our lab bills, our insurance, our tax, our indemnity, our GDC? Do you know that here in Scotland we are still expected to do NHS denture work- numerous repairs after months being closed. And the NHS are not remunerating us for it. The dentists are expected to pay for their patient's lab work. We can't even ask them for money to cover our costs.
Even 100% NHS practices will still be reliant on private income, of which we were not compensated for.
I'm currently having to make staff redundant.
Jesus, you think we were happy having to close? Do you think we sat back drinking cocktails when we had people sat begging at our doors screaming in toothache and we could do nothing? We still had to work bloody hard through all this.
We didn't qualify for the grants as not in the retail and leisure sector.
We are under the most massive amount of stress. Practices are closing all over the country and can not afford to open again.

I want to scream

As most dentists are not 100% NHS it’s like having a 40% pay cut even if vast majority of work is NHS. The pay structure is far more complicated than just ‘80%’ - I certainly haven’t been getting 80% and it’s certainly a much harder job post-covid

I want to scream too

If anyone has an issue paying for PPE please DO go elsewhere and I will be better able to see the patients that understand and respect my right (And my nurse’s) to a safe working environment.

I wish NHS patients knew how often I end up PAYING to treat them due to the awful NHS system and then see if they still thought we should be chained to it for a decade post-qualification

YANBU - I saw my nhs dentist for a check up (standard 6 monthly, not an emergency) the other week and didn't have to pay for PPE 🤷‍♀️

The practices can’t pass on PPE charges for NHS appts as receiving NHS funding. So the charges only apply to private appts (fairly IMO as the PPE costs have skyrocketed)

Don't worry @NommyChompers. Most people understand perfectly. It's just the stupid ones that don't and you can't do anything about that.

Come on NommyChompers and garagedoor, we all know NHS dentists are loaded! Three UDAs for a molar RCT that takes several visits to complete? You could retire on that alone
I don't think any of the people banging on about the 80% NHS salary have any idea of the value of the average contract.....or the horrendous overheads involved in running a practice.

Nommychompers

Don’t worry - as accountants, we get it! I only commented to DH today, that some people seem to think running your own small business is a licence to print money!

My dental practice is 100% private, because of the rubbish NHS contract; they prefer to charge a bit more than the NHS and be able to do a better job! ITA with them, when it comes to health. We sympathise completely with the problems of self employed people, earning more than £50,000 pa not getting any support from the government during lockdown and still having to pay their fixed overheads!

Thoroughly depressing that so many on mumsnet and perhaps the general population hold their health care professionals with such contempt. The ignorant, inaccurate and downright nasty comments directed on this forum towards dentists has been horrendous during covid 19. The dentists did not choose to close their doors/limit treatments - they were ordered to in order to limit the spread of covid 19. Dentists trying to keep their businesses from going under - how to people think this is somehow unacceptable. It's s not a charity but people seem to think it should be! No wonder poor mental health is on the rise among health care professionals.

Yep seen tbis phenomenam with Doctors, Dentist's and teachers.

We have suffered a fair bit of online abuse. The latest one is an individual who is not registered at our practice, posting many times on the practice FB page that the pandemic is all a conspiracy theory, that we are infringing on human rights requesting people wear masks on our premises, and she is planning on suing us for neglect because we won't ( can't) treat her just now. It's our fault apparently that her teeth are going to fall out.
As I've said before on some of these forums, this isn't just about money, or lack of it. If dental practices cannot stay financially viable, there is a huge dental health care crisis on the horizon.

I had an appointment for my daughter the first week they opened.
My private dentist charged £104 extra for PPE. Shocking!

£104 extra is shocking. We haven't charged any extra yet, but might put our private prices up slightly soon

Finally this yr pre covid my teeth were signed doff okay for Denplan and so glad I did join cos my root canal tooth that was done a piece of tooth broke off leaving filling exposed, dentist did a not drilling procedure but did say it was temporary and wont last long as they can't bond it properly. Thank god I didn't have to pay, cos I would have been annoyed to pay for something like this to them have to pay again for it to be done properly.

They said if the level goes down by the governemt they can begin i think either less ppe? they hope it'll be in September

If NHS dentistry is limited and all dentists had to work there for a period of time, perhaps they might put some pressure on the government to offer more than very basic treatment.

Because the government is just desperate to pay more money to provide a better level of treatment! I'm sure the board that sets NHS fees are looking dispiritedly at each other wondering why dentists don't just ask,ffs - the government would be only too pleased to double NHS dental payments to provide better treatment.....

@lovelemoncurd orthodontists very rarely do work involving aerosol spray. They change change wires/brackets/bands quickly and easily without having to touch a drill or spray any water. COMPLETELY different to drilling a tooth or even carrying out a scale and polish whereby blood and saliva and being sprayed all over the dentist/nurse/patient and also all over the room.

Im not a dentist but a private physio. It costs me £10 per patient now to have the correct PPE. I used to see 14 clients a day. I can now see 7 clients a day as I have to allow for 30 mins clinic room cleaning and aeration, change of PPE. My take home pay has reduced by 50% yet I'm also paying out £70 (£350 a week in PPE and cleaning) a day now just to work. My insurance, registration fees remain the same. I don't currently charge for the PPE due to the fear of client complaints but I cant shoulder the costs for much longer.

Thanks guys! glad there’s some support out there! All the patients I saw today were lovely and very understanding too!

I haven't read the whole thread - just the OPs comments and I think they must be in dreamland! Common sense tells me that £7 is nothing compared to the cost of the PPE and the cleansing of the room afterwards. I can't believe the world that some people live in....

Entitled world!

£7 is a bargain. My hairdresser charges £20 for ppe.

ive just been told i will have to pay £800 on root canel and a crown (privite dentist) i'm wondering if and rather hoping i get state of the art treatment for that money or if i was lucky enough to get a NHS dentist instead what i would exspect to pay?

I have a private dentist and have to pay £25 each time now just for PPE. I was pretty mad!

@lightattheendofthetunnell you'd pay approx £350 on the NHS. That's the fee for a crown which is band 3 treatment. Unfortunately for the dentist, the root canal is then free of charge.

I'm a non practising dentist and I would snap up a private treatment for that fee and with the UTMOST of respect to my NHS colleagues, I would always go to a specialist for root canal treatment.