No not understand how our NHS dentist can say our whole family of 5 are now not NHS and must pay private monthly fees to stay

[P3ff3r]

Said monthly plan doesn’t even cost of treatment.

We were NHS, how can we not now be and who can afford private x5 at the drop of a hat like that?

There are sod all NHS dentists left now

When was the last time you visited? Honestly nhs dentist are getting harder and harder to find!

Is the dentist no longer an nhs dentist. My practise has 6 dentist and only 2 do nhs work.

Have you been in the last two years? If you’ve had no contact they will bump you off the list.

If you don't go you get booted off lists - I did and they told me all other nhs dentists were full and to stay with them I need to pay for a private appointment and if no issues I may get back on their list.

I rang another dentist and signed up with them again under NHS - luckily I did as needed an extraction and rather not pay for that privately!

It's terrible what has happened with the NHS dentists. I don't blame the dentist, NHS dental has something to do with it and the prices from what I can gather.

I don't really know what I'm going to do as I can't afford for me and my dc to all be private.

I pay more at my NHS dentist than XDP did at his private one, so I’d look around and try to find another one.

NHS check up is free for me as I’m on a low income, but my DS pays more than the local private senior at and the hygienist isn’t included with NHS care, despite me having gum issues which necessitate frequent hygienist appointments, so I have to pay £70 a go to have them cleaned every 3 months. His was £60.

Have you had at least yearly check ups to stay on the list? If not they'll bump you off the list and replace with someone on the waiting list, they only have limited NHS places, better they're filled with people who actually go.

The UK are going to live up to the stereotype of a nation of bad teeth. I don’t know how dentistry has left the NHS under the radar.

Sounds like your dentist no longer does nhs work and you need to find a new dentist who is taking on new patients.

I got a text from my NHS dentist to say my check up was now due, which was a surprise as I’ve heard lots of people struggling to get one. The issue was my check up was actually due 18 months ago and they couldn’t fit me in. Since then I’ve had 2 check ups, 2 fillings and 3 hygienist appointments privately, so it’s a good thing I was able to do this rather than wait!!

It is disgraceful. As above, I don’t understand why teeth aren’t really covered on the NHS, unless you are very lucky.

My DH didn't see his dentist for 18 months due to Covid thing as he was too unwell to risk the dentist. When he rang to make an appointment for a check up last week, they had dumped him. No letter or phone call - just dumped after 20 years with that dentist.

Exactly the same thing has happened to us OP. Not just us but all the NHS patients registered with our practice.
Just got a Thank you for your past loyalty!
There are no dentists anywhere in the surrounding area taking on NHS patients so there is a large number of us including all the children in our town stuck with no dentist. It's so worrying.
A lot of people have written to our MP and got a Oh dear how concerning letter back but there's nothing he can do.

It's awful. The cost of private dentistry is terrifying. I have to have root canal and a crown fitted, which will cost over £1000 with no guarantee that I won't lose the tooth anyway and then have to find the money to pay for an implant. I don't know about anyone else but I don't have that sort of money just lying about.

Yes this does come up every so often doesn’t it. Most dentists won’t get out of bed for less than £200k a year unfortunately these days.
This is where we’ve got to.

There isn't really such a thing as an NHS dentist.

There are dentists, some of whom agree to treat NHS patients.

I imagine yours has decided they don't want to do that anymore.

Dental provision through the NHS is truly woeful.

@AlmostAJillSandwich

Have you had at least yearly check ups to stay on the list? If not they'll bump you off the list and replace with someone on the waiting list, they only have limited NHS places, better they're filled with people who actually go.

I had regular check ups with my NHS dentist before the pandemic. As it happens, just at the start of 2020 I had arranged some private treatment through them (an implant) and that eventually went ahead. However no word yet of normal service resuming.

This week I had to go back for the one year check up on my implant and while I was there I enquired about normal check ups. I was told that they have caught up to mid 2020 and will let me know when they get to me. Apparently I was due a check up in Feb 2021.I think I was due earlier than that but anyway, it sounds like the NHS work is still being done but slowly

Yes kept up with all appointments. Children under orthodontist too. Kept every single appointment although not been called up for a while due to Covid.

Simply had a letter saying even if my children want to just stay on list we have to pay £10 a month plan to just sit on it and it will only give 20% discount for treatment. We’d need private insurance if that was the case.

How is this legal?Who can afford private without warning for a family of 5? So my kids now don’t get dentist treatment. We have never missed an appointment or call up, ever. Have been NHS with them for 20 years. Said letter also said the surgery had recently been modernised and was a nicer place to be in.🤔

I work at a mostly NHS practice and over the last couple of years we’ve started getting large groups of new patients coming from surgeries that have gone exclusively private. Even practices like ours that see both private and NHS patients are now few and far between. We’re a small surgery and there is a limit to how many patients we can see so I worry about what people are going to do when we can’t accept any new ones

This happened to me back in 2005. I went to my dentist and the receptionist gave me some forms to fill out. I started to and then the questions seemed weird so I asked what they were for. They were signing me up to a private health plan and they hadn't even explaine to me what was happening! So this is nothing new.

My friends boyfriend came here from Europe as a qualified dentist and worked 3 days a week and earned, so he told me, £60,000. But that doesn't seem to gel with what other people say on here.

It's absolutely outrageous if they're sticking to removing people from nhs lists after a year. I've not been because there's been a pandemic. Decided that it wasn't worth the risk to the dentist and assumed theyd be backlogged. I did the same with non-urgent things with my doctor - they're not going to remove me, thankfully.

There were a few significant changes made within NHS Dentistry a few years ago which the NHS conveniently forgot to announce to the public. The main one being that no one is registered anywhere anymore. You can see whichever Dentist you choose to as long as they have an appointment available for you. You are not obliged to see the same one, you could see a different one for every visit should you wish. Obviously it makes sense to see the same one for continuity and each time you see a new Dentist for the first time they like to take a set of X-rays and start a fresh set of records for you. When patients were registered with one Dentist that Dentist had an obligation to see them within 24 hours if they were experiencing pain. Now, no regular Dentist means no obligation so if you’re in pain it’s a case of ringing around until you find someone that can see you.

I see a dentist when I visit friends in Eastern Europe. The difference (what you get for your money, standard of equipment, appointment availability, standard of practice, patient comfort) is huge. You can have a city break & get your teeth done to a great standard for less than you pay for a mouth full of 'good enough' here. Vote with your feet.

In our area, children of registers private adult patients are tested in NHS while in full time education. Thereafter, they’re private

We only pay for treatment when we have it. No other payments made to dentist. Unless you’ve signed up to some sort of dental plan, you shouldn’t have to Oddy the dentist anything. You need to find another dentist

I just changed dentist. My kids are grown so no longer treated under nhs anyway. New dentist rates are different than my old dentist - much better. Look around. Dentists usually publish their rates on their websites.

The dentist practice I was with a few years back as an NHS patient went fully private. I was lucky and found another practice that was taking on NHS patients at the time, and it turned out to be considerably better than the previous practice. But I know it’s increasingly hard to find any NHS places at all now. NHS dentistry contracts have been really badly managed for years. Not the fault of the dentists themselves.