To think dentists have become unaffordable?

[Eurydice84]

I went for a teeth cleaning today, £98! The hygienist recommended I get it done very frequently, four times a year, and made me feel bad for not doing this already.

Who can afford dentists in these dire financial times?!

mine is £110 every 4 months
much cheaper than implants

My mate is a dentist - will only do private
I would never go NHS
The difference in what my mate does and the NHS is extraordinary

I paid £33 a month with Denplan.

Worth every single penny. I've had x2 hygienists appointments this year, a root canal and a filling. Hate to thing how much that would have cost versus £400.

I pay £16 a month on a Practice Plan. It covers all checkups and hygienist plus biennial X-ray. Fillings are currently £48 on the plan but it will go up next year. There are no NHS places near me although under 18s and pregnant women get free treatment at my dentists.

It's not expensive compared to my cats vets. £500 for a clean and descale and full set of xrays. She is having a general anaesthetic though so perhaps that pushes the cost up.

My dh went to my private dentist last month after he lost a front tooth filling it was £105 and that included teeth scale, polish and check up.
My 18 year old dd has check up and i only get charged £14 student rate.

Yes, it's not peanuts, but budgeting for this kind of thing is what grown ups are supposed to do.

I agree that important preventative healthcare services like this should be much more accessible to people on very low incomes, but if you can pay for it, just pay for it. Why the whining?

I had a cleaning last month I go twice a year it costs £45 each time, the woman I see is wonderful.
Then next week is dentist check up time it's £35 twice a year.
I was wondering about getting a dental plan. I'll ask when I go in next week.

£65 here every 4months. It's worth every penny but there have been periods of my life I've not been able to afford even an nhs dentist.

I'm having a sheep sober device fitted. £310 I don't work or claim benefits I'm f*ed

Most private dentists will offer some from of dental plan if you ask about it. If you specifically want Denplan then you can search on the Denplan website for local dentists that offer it.

Also my husband is due to retire from the military in 2 years. I put his name down at our dentist over a year ago and he's still at the bottom. No idea what we can do.

My private dentist in Perthshire charges £24 for a scale and polish. I’m gobsmacked at the prices some of you are paying.

It varies from area to area and dentist to dentist. My wonderful dentist of 20 years who used to do a check and clean and polish once a year for £75 retired. The practice was taken over by a private company and the prices went up, now it is BUPA and they basically take the piss, I have left and found an independent who charge 1/2 price of BUPA. Their line is that dentists don't do a clean and polish now because of Covid 😡

And I am bemused by hygenists tbh. I know..... in my day anecdotes always annoys people, but honestly only in the last year at 56 have I been advised to see a hygenist. Fine, I went, and paid my £68. But I never needed it before, it was never a thing. I didn't start flossing until fairly recently either. DM in her 92 years never saw one, never flossed, and had most of her teeth when she died. I do actually think a lot of work that is suggested is a money making exercise. Not everyone needs to see a hygenist regularly and not everyone needs to see a dentist every 6 months.

I'm just glad I have a SimplyHealth plan via work, I pay £14.50 a month and I get up to iirc £180 of dentists fees reimbursed every year as part of the plan which more than covers the cost of my 6monthly NHS check ups and two hygienist appointments every year (I get 100% reimbursement for dentists, opticians and dental accident and then 75% reimbursement for chiropody, chiropractic, osteopathic and other services).

Not just that, but even the NHS dentists now push hard for you to pay privately instead. I had an absolute bodge job basic teeth clean and was told if I wanted it more thoroughly I needed to pay private.

This is an area that's ripe for some kind of reform/action to be taken.

I have always seen the dentist regularly- NHS until 2000, then Denplan, private PAYG the last few years.

I prioritise the expenditure but it certainly hasn’t saved me from further work - I’ve had 3 fillings, root canal and a crown this year.

I do think dentistry is unaffordable for many. My treatment has been far more expensive than my utility bills. Total beautician expenses so far: £20 haircut.

I pay £120 twice a year for a checkup and hygienist. I have no choice because there are no NHS dentists available. It’s a fiver a week so I prioritise that above having coffee or I skip lunch one day to pay for it. However if I needed significant work my private dentist would have to refer me back to the NHS because I don’t have any money beyond what I scrape together for the basic checkup and clean.

A few weeks ago a local dentist advertised that they had a few NHS places, then had to swiftly withdraw the advert because they received 700 calls from people up to 50 miles away!

I'm on Denplan and don't find it unaffordable but my teeth are in good nick and I've been with this practice quite a few years now. X-rays and replacement fillings are covered plus all my hygiene appointments and I think I'm going every 4 months now. I also have the peace of mind knowing I will be seen as an emergency within 24 hours if necessary. They also have out of hours emergency cover so it's worth it.

I've moved and had to join a private dentist as no NHS dentists now.

I pay £14 a month for a practice plan which includes 2 appointments, 2 hygienist visits a year and then 20% discount on most treatments.

To be fair I do prefer them to my previous NHS dentist.

I think it's awful that this is so dependent on where you live . There are a couple of dentists near me still advertising NHS patients and whilst our hygienist charges private fees they are a lot less than you paid.

Make sure you follow the advice given regarding how to clean your teeth, tee pee brushes etc and not too much sugar in your diet as hopefully that may reduce the work you need doing (I say may as some people just naturally have more problems with their teeth than others)

The dental plans sound a good idea .

My private dentist has now started asking for payment in advance. Because apparently they are getting desperate people who are in pain and can’t access an NHS dentist. They sign the new patient paperwork agreeing to pay but afterwards they just shrug and say sorry to do this but I don’t have any money, I lied because I was desperate so you’ll have to sue me. My dentist said they’re not bad people and have never done anything like this before, they are just truly desperate.

This is how we are losing NHS dental care, people just blindly accepting that dental care is something we should pay for. I haven't had NHS dental care since I was 16, relocating frequently makes it hard to get NHS care. My teeth are shocking, I spend more than I can afford on them, but having been in the hands of a private cowboy dentist, I'm stuck for life now.

But, with the way dentistry is going in this country I do think we need to prioritise and budget for it going forward. People think nothing of spending a lot of money on their hair, nails, brows, lips, botox etc, quite regularly. I do think we need to put looking after our teeth on our budgets and prioritise it

Not sure who all these people are, but I certainly don't spend on any of those things, I even cut my own hair.

That's because it's a scale and polish and not a hygiene appointment. They're different.