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?

If people would rather be in pain than seek dental treatment, there is something significantly wrong with the profession. Either unaffordable, poor treatment, poor previous experience, poor bedside manner? It’s not a HCP job to stand in judgement of their patients

@ChickenStripper

I am with Denplan and pay approx 23 Pounds a month- for this I get 2 check ups a year and 3 hygienist visits and travel insurance. You can choose an option that suits you. There is not a lot of difference in the overall cost between paying this and separately on NHS. I choose to pay this as it is important to me. My treatment went on during Covid as soon as it was allowed.I think people need to realise that there are some aspects of your life that you do have to pay for and budget accordingly. I do agree however that children and those on a low income should be free.

But that £276 a year doesn't pay for any actual treatment.

When i was struggling for money I ''budgeted accordingly'' for the roof over my head and the family's food and the gas and electric.

There was no way i could have afforded 300 quid a year to pay for the luxury of having a dentist to look in my mouth every 6 months.

I didn't even know dentists were seeing patients. I've not had a check up in over 2 years (pre Covid). I called them just before Xmas to ask when they'd be seeing patients and they said after Xmas and they would start with children. Which is food because my son has jaw development issues and had jaw surgery 3 years ago, some of his teeth are misaigned and he's not heard from a dentist in over 2 years.

This may be controversial but if parents paid for their child’s dentistry they may actually pay attention to the advice given regarding prevention.
Children develop dental decay ( in almost all circumstances ) as a result of the diet and care they receive, there is also a significant link between dental decay and childhood obesity. Children become fat for the same reason their teeth rot.
In an indirect way, paying for children’s dentistry may well help with the obesity epidemic we are currently seeing.

@Laiste Denplan normally covers all treatment apart from lab fees. The amount you pay monthly depends on what previous work you have had done to your teeth.

Meant to say *misaligned

@Laiste but you see I AM paying for treatment - a hygienist three times a year which helps to prevent many issues which might occur due to the plaque that my teeth love to build up. No one is simply just looking in my mouth.

I am angry. For 16 months during covid my dentist was only doing emergency work - no check ups. My denplan was still being paid every month though.

I am angry. For 16 months during Covid foreign travel was restricted or prohibited- no foreign holidays. My annual travel insurance was still being paid every month though

Because as independent businesses they can do as they please.

I called 37 dentists’ practices in a 15 mile radius last September and none were taking on any new patients, with exception of one who would take on under-18s.

So, none of us have a dentist now.

@ENoeuf

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

I last went in 2019. I tried to get an appointment in 2020 when they reopened (months later than they could have done) and was told I have to wait to be contacted. I never heard from them again so no doubt they've used that as an excuse to bump me off the list.

@ChickenStripper - ''You do things for your body by watching what you eat, exercise etc so why not your teeth? The number of people out there who regularly have Costas etc, meals out , the latest trainers but won't invest in their health 🙄''

You are correct of course. But look at Bluebottle11 upthread, rolling their eyes that people don't pay for their own health care. We do! It's called national insurance.

The bottom line is we're living in a society which is supposed to support a system meaning the poorest aren't rolling about in the gutters unable to pay for housing and health care.

^^ that’s really rubbish pinkpussycat ours at least kept us on even though they cancelled twice. Husband just scraped back in.

@Angrymum22 I see where you're coming from but realistically those parents will continue neglecting their dcs health and those dc will be in extreme pain and likely have teeth removed because of decay before they're an adult.

Also I think some teeth are stronger than others. My stb x h eats sweets every day and always has done. He eats sweets before falling asleep every night and was quite rubbish at brushing his teeth on a night time until we were together. He had a red bull addiction for years. Never had a filling ever! Seems unfair that teeth are also a luck of the draw in genetics and some parents will be able to afford the 6 month check ups and treatment and others children will be left until they're in agony and then a trip to the dental hospital for free tooth extraction by trainee dentists.

[quote ChickenStripper]@Laiste but you see I AM paying for treatment - a hygienist three times a year which helps to prevent many issues which might occur due to the plaque that my teeth love to build up. No one is simply just looking in my mouth.[/quote]
Which is great. I stand corrected. But i still could not have afforded it back then and frankly thinking about it we couldn't afford it now.

Couldn’t some of this just be solved by increasing the NHS price for more complex treatment and charging for each individual treatment?

[quote Laiste]**@ChickenStripper - ''You do things for your body by watching what you eat, exercise etc so why not your teeth? The number of people out there who regularly have Costas etc, meals out , the latest trainers but won't invest in their health 🙄''

You are correct of course. But look at Bluebottle11 upthread, rolling their eyes that people don't pay for their own health care. We do! It's called national insurance.

The bottom line is we're living in a society which is supposed to support a system meaning the poorest aren't rolling about in the gutters unable to pay for housing and health care.[/quote]
Nhs is run mostly by taxation. Most people know that we as a country cannot fund everyone with all the complex needs in modern health today.

We all got booted off the nhs dentist list as well, op.

I don't get it, nhs GP texts constantly saying "please don't come, if you can possibly avoid it"

NHS dentists "you are bad people for not coming even though it was a pandemic and we cancelled all or pretty much all our nhs appointments - now you are booted from the list" I mean wtf?

I'm just glad i'm not the one having to sort it out

The whole system (just like a bad tooth) seems to be rotten to the core. I know my views are simplistic. I'm not eloquent or knowledgeable enough to make any real argument. I just know it's all wrong that people are in pain and can't afford help.

I suspect I have probably been taken off the list by my dentist because I haven't been for a check up throughout Covid (combination of not really knowing if they were open and hating going to the dentist because of jaw surgery when I was younger - I hate anyone going near my mouth).

My DH has started going to a private dentist to get implants and they've agreed to take on my DD as an NHS patient. They've been brilliant for both and we've just paid for DD to have a brace - she would have had to wait 2 1/2 years if she'd stayed on the NHS list and since she'd have grown in that time it may have been harder to do.

I think all the NHS needs a shake up, including dentistry and GP services.

OP I'd find a private dentist that is willing to take your children on as NHS provided you are treated privately.

The wife of my old driving instructor had a lot of complex treatment done. Luckily, she was referred to the dental hospital for students to practice on (for want of better phrasing). He got quite friendly with some of them and asked how much the treatment would cost privately. It was thousands. He remarked it would have been cheaper to buy nuggets of gold and have her teeth replaced with those!

It’s ridiculous how something that is essential (we need teeth) costs so much.

This thread has prompted me to ring my NHS dentist because I last had a check up in 2019 ( they cancelled my 2020 appointment)
Thankfully I am booked in later this month with no issues.

We had this problem many years ago, when the previous dental crisis happened. We were entitled to free dental treatment due to low earnings. Our dentist said we had to go private or leave. Obviously we had to leave (dentist didn’t even complete the treatment I was having) and couldn’t get a nhs dentist for literally years.

Only option if emergency treatment required, via nhs, was a clinic that run on a Sunday between 9am and 3pm. You had to be there by 8am to queue as it was on a first come basis and if you hadn’t got to the front of the queue by 2.45pm (which often happened) you weren’t seen.

I broke a back tooth one Monday and phoned nhs. They told me I had to wait till the Sunday! I ended up taking a pair of pliers to the tooth and pulling the broken part out! If I hadn’t my gum would have been too swollen by the Sunday, for the dentist to treat.

I wouldn't mind paying private but none of the dental policy seem much good for those if us budgeting. Most just seem to be a monthly fee whoch covers check ups and then you have to pay for treatment. I want a policy where I pay each month and that includes the costs of treatment, same as private healthcare. Not to be lumbered with a huge unexpected bill.

Children develop dental decay ( in almost all circumstances ) as a result of the diet and care they receive

Both my children inherited my shit chalk like teeth. So that’s not always true.

@OfstedOffred

There are sod all NHS dentists left now

^ Basically this They don’t have to treat you.