To think that dental care is now only for the wealthy in the UK

[Tygertiger]

I would love to be considered U here and if I am, please explain it to me.

I have been in the privileged position until now of having an NHS dentist. Obviously I still pay a fee for every visit (not entitled to free healthcare) but it’s still cheaper than private dental fees. We’ve now been told that our practice is going private as of next year and will offer monthly payment plans, the cheapest of which is £19 a month. I’ve been on the NHS site and there are no other NHS dentists in the local area, at all.

So how do poor people afford to go to the dentist? If they can’t afford a monthly insurance plan?

Erm, but they need an NHS dentist first!!!

Does that cover ALL your dental treatment? (If so, that's not bad for 4 people) or does it just cover check ups and 10% off your treatment bill or something which is all I ever seem to find offered.

I never understand why, when we have an NHS, teeth and eyes are just arbitrarily excluded. Yes, I know that some people qualify for a free eye test, but you're then on your own if you need glasses. What is the justification for excluding these two essential things - especially when the NHS does cover certain things that, it could be argued, are significantly less important/urgent than teeth and eyes?

Didn't it used to be a commonly-done thing, decades ago, that, on reaching young adulthood, people would have all of their healthy teeth removed and replaced with dentures - on the grounds that they would then have no further dental bills to worry about for the rest of their lives? I gather that some parents would even pay for this as a coming-of-age present for their children, to 'set them up' dentally for life. Whoever would have thought that, in 2023, in one of the world's richest countries, it would look like we were headed the same way again?

I've always paid for a private dentist. I want to look after my teeth, as they're mine, why should anyway else pay for my dental care?

DS2s Denplan alone is £28 a month!! they bumped up the cost after he couldnt get 2 fillings done because they were closed during lockdown! ..
Youre on a very good deal warmmfeet!

Some counties (like mine) don't have a single NHS space and the waiting list is years long and are closed to new people. Then most NHS dentists are shutting all their services round here one by one and going fully private.

Almost everyone I know (adults and children) don't go anymore. They will only go if there's a problem I guess and only then if think they can afford it (unlike for some of the communities round here)

Well lucky you!

Why should anyone pay for you to have a baby? Or treat your cancer? Or x Ray your broken limb? What a ridiculous state,ent unless you apply it to everything about your health.

I’ve actually have an audiology appointment via a go referral because a cold/flu/covid has made me deaf suddenly in one ear. 3 week turn around.

Bur I agree my hears and eyes haven’t been tested since I was primary age. I actually remember going to the dentist with the school as a class thing twice a year.

I've always paid for a private dentist. I want to look after my teeth, as they're mine, why should anyway else pay for my dental care?

So you never use the NHS for anything, then? Do you figure that, if you had a heart attack, it would be up to you to pay for your related healthcare, as it's your heart? Why are teeth different? We're not just talking about people who want gleaming white gnashers for Instagram; it's also people in agony with serious medical conditions that will cost them thousands to have dealt with, if and when they can ever afford it.

Give it a few more years and this will be the way of all healthcare.

It’s impossible finding an NHS dentist in some areas. It’s frustrating as my dental treatment should be free (pregnant) and DS is only two, but we both have to pay as private patients.

I do dislike people who have the privilege and money to move abroad telling all the people too poor to move about how life is going to be shit for them.

@Whammyyammy Congratulations! Some people don't have the privilege of actually being able to afford it!

Take home pay needs to be less that £616.66 monthly.

Anything over she you lose free dental and free school meals/uniform grants where I am.

Am in exactly same position as OP and with a very expensive metal denture( due to an accident) which will need to be replaced at so.e point,I dont know what to do. Replacing the denture with implants was quoted at nearly 6K.

It is not just looking at your teeth for holes, though, is it?
It is a general look about for things like oral cancers.

I use a NHS dentist and pay the fixed rates.

Agree. I certainly didn’t vote for either but my family are still screwed for dental treatment!
Have a grandchild who by now should be having check ups ! My children started seeing a dentist by the age of two even if it was to play on the chair and have their teeth counted! Bloody shocking along with everything else that is poor about the UK !

I've been trying to get in an NHS dentist for years. I don't know anyone who has one. YANBU

Go private and have a new denture made, there around £600-800 much cheaper than implants, and implants risk failing & need replacing later on in life.

We are lucky enough to have an NHS dentist, but they're very hot on "You NEED a checkup" at very frequent intervals - so although it's paid on the NHS scale, you're coerced into paying when they claim you need to and not when you feel you need to/can afford to. All safe in the knowledge that, if you decline for too long, they can simply chuck you off their list and leave you high and dry, at the mercy of paying for private.

Tbf, most people who come here are economic migrants rather then people in love with the British culture. No surprise that they move on if we hit a bumpy patch. Maybe we shouldn't have become reliant on such fair weather friends.

Poor people aren’t getting dental care. As pp said, even if you’re on benefits you need to find an NHS dentist first, which is impossible. My Dad needs new dentures and I’ve called every NHS dentist within 50 miles without success. Now I’m looking at paying for them on my credit card so he can have a better quality of life and be able to eat properly.

My Mum is registered with an NHS dentist but can’t get any work done. She needs 10 teeth extracted and the dentist won’t do it because the NHS won’t cover his costs. He will only do one tooth at a time, and he insists on doing a checkup then filling the tooth at least 3x before he extracts it - that way he gets 5 payments from the NHS per tooth. This has dragged on for two years now and only 2 teeth out of 10 have been removed. At this rate it’ll take another 8 years before my Mum gets all of her teeth out. A private dentist would do them all in 1-2 appointments but we don’t have the money.

I imagine it really depends on the state of your teeth and if you have any issues. I’ve never been able to get an NHS dentist since I moved for university about 15years ago. However I don’t have any issues with my teeth and the private dentists match the check up price of the NHS. The scale and polish is slightly more about £15-20 more than NHS so it’s never really bothered me. I suspect if you have issues with your teeth then being private will be expensive