AIBU to think that dentists should take on children?

[ChocolateQuiltedShitpig]

I have been calling round all morning to try and get my 16m old DS registered and no one is taking on because of Covid.

I appreciate this is out of their control but what are we supposed to do now? Just leave our children grow up without being seen by one?

Even my own dentist wont register him :( HELP

Complain to you MP, complain to PALS, coplain to your CCG.
None of the £5.9 Billion from the budget to tackle the NHS backlog is going towards Dentistry.
NHS Dentistry is stuffed. It was underfunded before Covid- they only contracted with dentists for 50% of the population to have NHS care. There have been 35 million missed Dental appointments. The backlog is enormous and we are only contracted to provide a certain amount of NHS care.
Morale in NHS Dentistry is rock bottom, there is major reform coming and you can be sure it won't improve dental care, it's likely to be a core service for basic care only so the public needs to come to terms with paying for anything more privately and I say this as an NHS Dentist for the last 20+ years.

They should be halving all the income tax we all pay as we are getting virtually no NHS care now. Instead we pay through the nose for it and get nothing back.

The yellowing comes off. I managed to get it off my daughter’s teeth last year rubbing with tissue. I now use an adult toothbrush occasionally with her as it’s much better at keeping it at bay.

2 reasons why it's the government's fault:

• they do provide NHS funding to dentists, but they limit how much each dentist can claim, so dentists cannot just take on lots of NHS (children are entitled to NHS)

• not enough dentists being trained in the UK. Historic reliance on getting other countries to train dentists and then the UK recruits them without having to pay for training.

1 thing that is not the government's fault: massive reluctance on the part of dentists to have any work placement students in their practice, meaning universities cannot offer more places even if they want to. I think there should be a compulsory commitment to support upcoming dentists in training by practising dentists that cannot be skirked.

Pls don’t vote tory next time.

My dentist is full to nhs but when I need to see him for a private issue he has space within a day. They prefer it - more profitable.

If we want it to be different, vote different

It's impossible. Even the health visitor was like..you should take DC to see a dentist once a year but that's unlikely to happen any time soon so get on a waiting list now.

I've been trying to find an NHS dentist for DH, a couple have said they're hoping to take on new NHS patients in January so might be worth a try then.

I amazes me just how passive so many posters are on these types of thread are. Dentisty is being privatised right under our noses and so many people just shrug their shoulders and accept it.
Well I say passive, I'm sure plenty aren't, plenty would rather just look after themselves and want an end to free at point of use dentistry.

user452369 Dental training isn't work placement it's a full time 5 year degree with a one year Foundation placement but this needs funding too and there are only a certain number of these. To work in general practices under the NHS, this is mandatory.
The surgery, nurse, materials etc are provided by the practice not paid for by the NHS there is a grant paid that covers the dentist's salary and this covers these costs. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and the supervising dentist has to be available to supervise, mentor and take days out of practice to train. They no longer get to choose their Foundation dentist and many have decided it's not worth it after recent changes.
Newgirls the current Dental contract was introduced by Labour, the Conservatives have continued with it as they have failed to find any way to get cheaper Dentistry, they have been running pilots for years all of which have been more expensive.

We can’t find nhs either / London borough. It’s £35 for a check up. Then it was discovered thatcds1 had a tooth growing sidewards instead of up in the gum. £200 for removal of a tooth to allow it space. Orthodontist is next ….

a 16m your ds surely just has a handful of milk teeth, nhs guidance is to take them to a dentist to get them used to it but there's really no need for dental treatment at that age unless there is an obvious problem so no wonder dentists don't want to prioritise that when they could be spending their limited appointment time on somebody who will actually benefit from it

get your DS on a waiting list, yes, he will benefit from dental appointments when he is older, but as long as you aren't feeding him sugar 24/7 there is no reason he needs a dentist yet

Not sure what your financial circumstances are so this may not work for you. Last year I rang around everywhere looking for an NHS dentist for my children. One place I called said they weren't taking on NHS patients but they were taking on private patients. At my wits end I said OK then could I sign all 3 of us up as private patients at which point she said that if I was a private adult patient they actually could sign my kids up as NHS patients. All I had to do was book and pay for my first appointment but there has been no expectation since then of me booking further appointments. The cost of my check up was £40 and for that I apparently can now have my children registered as NHS patients for as long as I like. So if you are calling places with private appointments available and have the money for a single checkup for yourself it might be worth checking whether signing up as an adult gets you any sort of special "head of the NHS queue" perks for your children.

Dentist here. Please write to your MP.

our practice is booked up until January. We have extra surgeries and dentists to willing to take on more nhs work but we can't make our contract larger. We already have too many NHS patients for our contract and do try and accommodate some patients privately but happy to do more NHS so that all our patients can be registered on the NHS but then have the option to pick and choose what they have done privately.

The government basically hasn't commissioned enough quota for the whole population. I reckon not even half have access to a basic service. NHS appointments aren't allocated on a needs basis just first come first served or luck on where you live. Quality of dentistry is not monitored well and we are not directly paid according to how much time a patient needs.

We don't have a decent union like GPs so we don't get extra funding. Our profession ranks pretty low when the NHS is funding nightingale hospitals, cancer treatment, ventilators and midwives. We are at the shit end of the scale when the rations get doled out. We are the highest risk of all professions and we've been told to open or don't get paid, even if your clinically extremely vulnerable. Our patients are mainly normal lovely people who deserve so much better.

DH has been in the Royal Marines coming up to 25 years. He's not had a NHS dentist since he was 18. I put him on the waiting list yesterday as he's due to retire in a few years. They said it could take 2 years.

At our check up yesterday we told the dentist dd had pain in her tooth. He told us to book in for it to be taken out. The receptionist booked it for February. I told her she's in pain. She said to phone up one morning and ask for an emergency appointment.

Everyone is chaotic. It's worrying.

My dentist always registers DCs of registered patients even though they don't have their lists open. I registered DS earlier this year, you should speak to the practice manager to check what their actual position is.

Having said that, I've not been able to have a check up since Nov 2019 (!) and no idea when they'll kindly catch up with their work. Had to go in privately anyway to be seen.

It does vary around the country. In our bit of outer London my NHS dentist saw us in early 2020 and then Dec 2020 (pandemic year) and since then every 6 months and I also see the hygienist there too every 6 months or less (although I pay for the hygienist's service).