To think that free NHS dentistry should be available to all children and especially ones with disabilities.

[Gtsr443]

My disabled child is in receipt of DLA. He cannot get to see an NHS dentist because there are no NHS spaces in our county at all. None.
There is a surgery in the next county 2 hours away who might consider him but they will only take him on if I sign up to Denplan.
Surely this is extortion?

It would cost a lot less just to pay general dental practitioners more for seeing NHS patients.

If we make different choices we can afford the things we used to have.

The Tories have wasted billions on not managing the country's debt payments correctly so accruing unnecessary interest.

They've wasted billions on buying and storing useless PPE and other profiteering government contracts given to their mates.

E.g. There are asylum seekers who have been waiting for their applications to be processed since 2018.

Until their claim is processed our taxes are paid to Serco to house them.

There are 55,000 failed asylum seekers that we used to be able to send back to the EU and now since Brexit are stuck paying millions to Serco for until we find something to do with them. (Pay millions to Rwanda probably)

Tory cronyism and short termism are the root cause of much of the record high government debt.

Once we get a competent government who actually want to govern, not just use the levers of government to enrich themselves and their mates things can start to improve in this country.

P.S. Brexit barriers and red tape cost us billions every month. Once we rejoin things can also begin to improve.

Different choices.

Not necessarily,a paediatrician or learning disabilities nurse can refer,my son is also under a community Dentist.

NHS dental services haven’t been free at the point of use for everyone since the fifties , and it was the Tories in 1992 who started messing with dentist’s contracts which started the mass exodus of them going private.

When I first became a dental nurse in 1987 dental checkups were free for everyone. Somewhere between then and 1992 they introduced a charge of around £3.50 to those who had to pay for treatment. We noticed a decline in people coming in for check ups then.

Each treatment was paid for. So if you had one filling, you paid for that or if you had ten, you paid for ten. The same with extractions, crowns, etc. Nowadays treatments are paid in bands so dentists can’t afford to offer NHS treatment for everyone. It’s just not feasible.

I left dental nursing in 1992, to do nursing, but we all said this would happen. The town I worked in had a dozen NHS dentists. Now it has none. My parents pay private, my sister doesn’t go because she can’t afford to.

We recently moved and there is no NHS dentist in our county. A local dentist did an open day for children a few weekends ago. They were inundated. People were queuing up the street. People are absolutely desperate for them and their children to be seen. I’m fortunate that I can afford private care, but it shouldn’t be a lottery.

The Govt could change this if they wanted to. It won’t happen over night, however. We need to get more dentists trained and they need to offer to pay them better so there is an incentive to treat people on the NHS.

The 'school dentist' is just an old name for a Community dentist. School screening /epidemiology was a small aspect of the job, the rest the holistic (conscious sedation and GA included) treatment of Paediatric and Adults who fall under the category of 'special needs/special care'. These patients can be referred to CDS by a range of other HCPs/social workers etc not just general dentists. . Alongside this, most CDS services have a paediatric exodontia service; conscious sedation / GA -but these children are typically fit and well, and after having their extractions will be discharged back to their high street dentist. Our CDS hasn't done any school screening for 20 years but does the occasional epidemiological study but that's a tiny part of our overall duties.

Get dental insurance. Not everything can be free.

I don't believe for a second that your MP said that.

It seems my son can only be referred to the community dentist by another dentist.
Complete Catch 22.
We've gone back to the dentist my son was registered with prior to the exodus of NHS dentists and asked if they would do it.
No response yet. If they refuse I will try to get paediatrics and consultants on board.
Always a fight eh?
Thanks again for the advice nice people.

You might have to suck it up and pay for one appointment.

My kids always get their teeth treated for free on the NHS, dentist is about 40 minutes tube ride away but is very good and generally have appointments available within 2-3 days. I know there is an issue with not enough dentists - I cant get a dentist closer to my home - but I never had a situation where my kids could get treated or where I had to pay. Maybe its better in London.

Yes. It's because you're in London.
Regional counties are suffering the worst.
Somerset, Norfolk Cumbria, Suffolk Shropshire ...

Rural not regional

OP l am a dentist, when I was training I never thought I'd work in a fully private practice, even hearing colleagues and lecturers talk about the state of NHS dentistry I've always been passionate about it being accessible and thought I'd make it work, but it's now not workable at all. As much as I believe dental hygiene and health is really important not just to someone's health but to their confidence too and money shouldn't be a barrier, I'm also not working for a loss.

We get a lot of people, including lots of parents begging us to see them, saying x, y and z about how they need it and how they can't pay. I do empathise, I grew up in poverty on a council estate and without free dental care for under 16s when I was younger we wouldn't have been able to go, but where is the line drawn? If we were to say yep sure will see you it wouldn't even just be for free, it'd be for a loss as the staff, equipment, cleaning etc all costs money. NHS funding doesn't touch the surface and when there is so much money we have to invest in stuff to make the practice able to operate ie filtration (which hospitals don't require weirdly) to protect staff etc it's bloody expensive.

Dentists don't refuse to have NHS patients because they are greedy and want loads of money, it has just reached the point where the private work they offer doesn't subsidise the inadequate funding from the contract to make it feasible. It's a real shame but I don't see what could change now really, there's a shortage of dentists and support staff, I can't imagine many working for the NHS given the option- I wouldn't now give up the flexibility.

Private dentists can refer , so it may be worth while paying for a check up. The community clinics in my area will only accept referrals from dentists as they will have looked at child, assessed their dental needs , taken x rays (if possible) and will be able to suggest best course of treatment (ga/ sedation , extractions etc) .
The difficulty is because of the extreme pressure community services are under in many areas children/people will not be taken on for routine check ups but for discreet courses of treatment. The expectation is they will be discharged back to general dental services for routine care afterwards . Unfortunately all too often there is no dentist to discharge back to.

@Gtsr443 sorry ((

Why especially children with disabilities. They are not more deserving than children without disabilities.

Likewise free NHS dentistry in pregnancy doesn't exist

I don't think disabled children should get priority - ALL children should be able to see a dentist.

A lot of dentists in our local area have taken on dental therapists (possibly not the correct name?) who can see children for check ups to free actual dentists.

My young daughter is the same. She has ARFID and doesn't consume dairy or calcium rich foods we are having to pay private to ensure she doesn't lose her teeth due to her diet.

What do you propose cutting to fund it?

Or who's taxes do you wish to raise?

The UK is up to its eyeballs in debt. We have the highest tax burden since the 60s, soon to be since WW2. We consistently spend more on public services than we take in via taxes.

Get into the habit of:
"I want this, we should fund it via doing this". Bonus points if you can balance the numbers rather than guessing.
Rather than:
"I want this, gimme".

The culture of shifting tough choices to others and only seeking to reap the rewards is why we're in this mess.

I'm saddened and shocked to read this.

I'm registered with an NHS dentist and have just had 3 fillings for free as I'm pregnant.

I registered my son locally when he was 2 and he's been for 3 check ups so far, all free.

I had no idea we were so lucky and assumed it was the norm.

We're greater London, so I guess that's where we've got lucky.

They tend to have more complex needs and higher risks. It is far more cost effective for those types of patients to have free access for check ups etc.

Its not about being “deserving”, it’s not a competition!

Other health NHS professionals can refer to a community dental service not just other dentists.

Disabled children and adults can need more specialist care if their level of understanding is limited. There is a reason that many people with special needs have poor dentition. It’s because they may need to be sedated for even a basic regular check up. To get those patients under sedation is extremely distressing for some of them. I used to work in this field.

Well for a start my disabled child can't speak so can't tell any one if he is in pain
he lacks the capacity to.understand to understand the need for taking care Of his teeth so.it's a struggle to brush them
Any thing more complex than a quick checkup.and he needs a general anaesthetic.

I hope you took this to the local press

There are multiple childhood disabilities that cause issues with teeth.

It should be free NHS dentistry for all children. But within that group some of the children who need it the most are likely to be children with various disabilities.

And some parents of children with disabilities likely already face a higher financial burden, and potentially less opportunity to work, than some other parents.

It's not about children with disabilities being more deserving, it's about them having a higher need. Like pregnant women being entitled to free dental care (if they can access it) because pregnant affects teeth. It doesn't mean pregnant women are more deserving, they just have a higher need.