What happens at dentist if you have treatment but no money to pay after?

[HighlyOptimistic]

Need emergency dental treatment wisdom tooth acute pain.

Furloughed on about £200 month absolutely zero money in bank until next pay day. Nobody to borrow from, work won’t sub me, don’t have credit for loans, not eligible for free dental.

If I just have the appointment and afterwards present my debit card for payment, it will be declined as there’s about £3 in my bank, what happens next?

Will dentist just invoice me? Keep my bank card as security? Call police?
I have no way of paying but the pain is making me nearly faint and I’m already at the limit of how many paracetamols I can take in this 24 hour period.

I’m not trying to defraud or steal, I just genuinely have no money in my bank until pay day in 2 weeks time (work pays early at Christmas so it will be Christmas Eve , too late to wait).

Is there a dental receptionist or dentist/assistant on here that can advise?

I don’t want to risk saying before my appointment I can’t afford to pay as they won’t take me in. My whole face is throbbing. I’m not wasting A&E time as 111 said only go if you’re having breathing difficulties. I am but that’s me trying to keep a panic attack away because of the pain (I’m managing the panic attack).

I recently had a crown replaced , with 3 appointments over 3 weeks and paid at the end
I did offer to pay as I went along , but at end of treatment was when they wanted paying
It was £203 ( NHS )
At the same dentist , DD had a filling , and their card machine wasn't working , they said to pay next time someone in the family had an appointment!

@BrumBoo I suspect that's why the poster said they will pay the dentist directly. If they are actually having the treatment and the dentist takes the payment it's obviously real, as opposed to just sending someone random on the internet £25. There are ways it could be verified.

Yeah your husband sounds like a right mean nasty bastard

I thought denplan was when you can't get an NHS dentist not to cover NHS fees.

I think it's what we have as they would only take kids on as NHS - and frankly we were lucky to get that.

[quote MummytoCSJH]@BrumBoo I suspect that's why the poster said they will pay the dentist directly. If they are actually having the treatment and the dentist takes the payment it's obviously real, as opposed to just sending someone random on the internet £25. There are ways it could be verified.[/quote]
Thats true. There's also ways of getting around that, but I'm not going down the road of Sherlocking the situation.

I'm sure the op is being honest, but unfortunately fake threads happen and people get burned. I hope the op manages to gather the funds they need without having to resort to asking strangers for help as well.

I think there are dentists who won’t allow you to take their payment plan until they’ve finished emergency treatment. That may not be all of them though. I’ve had to pay for mine and the plan now allows for two routine appointments and two hygienist visits a year, plus money off any treatment.

[quote MummytoCSJH]@BrumBoo I suspect that's why the poster said they will pay the dentist directly. If they are actually having the treatment and the dentist takes the payment it's obviously real, as opposed to just sending someone random on the internet £25. There are ways it could be verified.[/quote]
Exactly.
I've been on MN for donkey's years and I know there are always scammers, especially at this time of year.
If OP finds a dentist and gives me their website, I can verify they are legit myself, and pay directly. That would be quite an elaborate scam for the OP to arrange for the sake of £20.

It's Christmas, most people have had a shit year anyway, the OP has raging toothache, and money issues on top.
When she's in a better position she can pass the £23 forward to someone else in need.
I'm not a do-gooder but I have had tooth pain before and wanted to rip my own head off to make it stop.

Hello everyone.

We've had a number of reports from people concerned about this thread so, as we usually do in these circs, we're putting our heads round the door with some important reminders.

Right now we can't see any evidence to indicate that the OP isn't above board – if we did, we'd remove the thread straight away. But the truth is that, sadly, we at MNHQ can't know with 100% certainty that any poster is genuine, no matter who they are or how long they have been here. As frustrating as it is, we're not able to vouch for anyone here.

So we always ask users to remember that not everyone on the internet is who they say they are – and remind folk not to give more to another poster, either financially (in cash or gifts) or emotionally (in time or care and support) than they'd be prepared to lose if things went wrong. We strongly advise against parting with any cash or giving away your personal details, and if you receive a PM which makes you uneasy - report it to us and we’ll take a look.

Sorry to hijack your thread briefly there, OP – we really hope you get it all sorted soon. In the meantime, you might find some useful information on our guide for dealing with financial difficulty

Your husband wont pay for dental treatment? Seriously?

He certainly wouldn't still be my husband if this is the state of the marriage.

DH is a dentist and in all honesty, if you absolutely cannot pay for a treatment you already had then most likely nothing will happen. DH has his own practice and every month there's always a handful of patients who have not paid, though surprisingly it's not as much as one would expect (10 or so). The routine is to send out reminder invoices with the outstanding amount, maybe a penalty or something. If all fails then they may forward it to a debt collection agency but it's extremely low priority in the larger scheme of things.

They have never sued or sent a lawyer after a non-paying patient. The amount involved with a single patient is so small compared to the turnover of the entire practice that it's not even worth chasing and eventually written off. Of course this might differ depending on practice, but from what I gather it's really not an issue at all. Not a single dentist will lose sleep over the fact that one patient has not paid them. As of course, as doctors, they are often willing to write off the fee because treating patients especially for pain is far more important than money.

I'd do as you suggest OP. Most professionals are paid within 14 days of providing a service including many private doctors etc, so I really don't see what you're suggesting is truly that bad. I hope you feel better soon.

@CupboardOfJoy, I appreciate that. I'd also say it's not just for £20 if the op gets many PMs. Regardless, you may have been here for years, but many posters may not be aware that MN is a hotbed of begging threads, especially at Christmas. Anyway, MNHQ have put up their disclaimer now, so I dont need to play busybody anymore .

Toothache is a nightmare though, and a shit husband added in is awful. I hope the situation is resolved quickly.

I hope you get sorted OP. Your tooth and your abusive marriage x

@HighlyOptimistic
You're on the wrong section of MN.
You need Relationships.

And your subject line should be:

I AM IN AGONY WITH A WISDOM TOOTH AND FURLOUGHED SO HAVE NO CASH BUT MY HUSBAND WHO IS WORKING AND EARNING WILL NOT PAY FOR ME TO SEE A DENTIST.

Clearly the responses with be once you get your tooth sorted, leave the bastard.

Honestly- what on earth are you doing in such a marriage?
It beggars belief.

And your subject line should be:

I AM IN AGONY WITH A WISDOM TOOTH AND FURLOUGHED SO HAVE NO CASH BUT MY HUSBAND WHO IS WORKING AND EARNING WILL NOT PAY FOR ME TO SEE A DENTIST.

Yes! What an asshole!

Can you arrange an overdraft with your bank?

@CupboardOfJoy How would you do that? You can't ring up and ask etc, as that would be a breach of patient confidentiality, if they disclosed that information.

I'm a dentist, and honestly would never let anyone suffer. If they couldn't pay I'd let them pay the next time. I'd rather patients were honest with me though.
In saying that. Dental practices are businesses, with staff to pay. Dental practices were forced to close for many months due to COVID, and a lot of them are running at huge losses just now. So, ( and I know you will) please try and pay what you owe them as soon as you can, or try and find the money before your appointment.
Think if it this way, would you ever go into Tesco's and buy something then walk out without paying?
But I am sympathetic. Just be honest
Would you ever

When thery give you the bill,tell them the truth and give them a postdated cheque.

@Buzzthedragon

I had thought in the past when I’ve been pregnant that it’s strange how they require no proof that you are in fact pregnant when you receive free dental treatment. It was just a tick of a box .I’ve often wondered if people do this in financial dire straits .

They might ask you to present that card thing. Be bad if they did. And I would think they get reimbursed for pregnant ones once they’d tied your records up, so that obviously wouldn’t happen and then it would all kick off.

The dentist on my local high street offers payment plans.

I didn't have enough cash at my private dentist, I came in to pay the next day it was open.

@EmbarrassingMama

How can they charge you before they know what the problem is? I'd just go and get the work done and tell them to invoice you.

Some practices ask for the band one cost before you go in to see the dentist and then will take the balance if other treatment is done once the patient comes out.

Mine gave it to me free - it was actually a regular check up plus hygiene appointment - but I had literally that morning been made redundant so phoned up to cancel and they said to still come in and they would still do it.

There's forms you can claim if you are on low income as well to get free treatment.

Hi, okay firstly I have worked in a few practices now, they were both NHS and Private. Nobody saw one dentist because they were fee payers, and the non fee paying saw someone else, I've never heard of anything so absurd. You also seem to put people in two sections paying like privately, and non paying as NHS, but lots of people are registered as NHS patients and pay, myself included!

You say you owe to child tax credits, how much more of that do you need to pay back, because then yes, your next step needs to be applying for UC, if you have nothing else and are paying rent? Etc, and have a child/children, you can not live on £200 a month?! That is ridiculous, okay I haven't read any additional posts before or after the one I have commented on, so if you have a DH and he earns well then yes UC amount would be lower, because of course they will look at his salary, and for every £1 you earn they deduct 63p. I know because I have just started claiming. It wouldn't be the worse thing for you, as you get a work coach and they could help you maybe get a different job, although I know that the job field is not good now with everything going on.

If it is a private dentist they most probably use a debt collector if you don't pay up within a certain time - most private medical practices do. I don't expect NHS dentists do though.