What if you can't afford private dental care?

[OneHornedFlyingPurplePeopleEater]

I finally managed to find a local NHS dentist earlier this year for myself and my family. We'd lived here 3 years and had been calling around the local dentists every few months but none were taking NHS patients.

We've had the initial appointment a few months ago, but now they have told us there is no NHS dentist anymore.

I have what feels like an infection but can't afford private. What am I supposed to do??

Mumsnet may tell me that everyone earns £100k+ and just pay. But what if you can't?

Unfortunately this is a sign of the times we are in. The NHS as a whole is crumbling financially and it won't be long before other areas are having the same happen to them. Our NHS dentist does not take any new NHS patients. Its only because we have been going there for 20+ years we are still kept on but from what our dentist told us only about 5% of her patients are NHS now and all of those are long time patients so keeps them out of loyalty.

I honestly think we need to start looking at the private medical route. I know that is not an option for a lot of people but I don't see the situation getting any better. The overall cost of healthcare has spiralled out of control and it's only going to get worse. Wait until GP appointments become chargeable etc.

Look further afield for any NHS dentist you can get to. Try a different postcode or location if needed, mine goes up to a radius of about 9 miles and there are two accepting NHS patients over 18 in that radius, several more who accept children.

Find one on this website.

https://www.nhs.uk/service-search/find-a-dentist

Nope . Three children here ,same diet ,same teeth cleaning routine,two children had perfect teeth way into their teens one of whom it was debatable as to how often one child actually cleaned teeth !
The other child had tooth decay from the age of 5 and luckily, because we did have access to the dentist ,the problem was discovered . That child had so many extractions despite being religious about dental care . There is definitely a genetic factor ,husband has bad teeth.

Yep and genetics play a huge part.

I have always taken really good care of my teeth by my teeth are falling apart. My mum's fell apart as did my Nans. My partner on the other hand has never had a filling and only brushes once a day.

@OneHornedFlyingPurplePeopleEater I earn 30k, (partner earns 35k, we live in Surrey, we are very low earners for our area) I pay for denplan for all the family - 2 adults, 2 children. £30 each month for adults, £10 each month per child. Adult is 4 hygienes and 2 checkups, free x-rays. Not 100% what the children’s is but definitely two check ups and something else as well. For some things you can be referred to NHS cost free i.e wisdom teeth removal. Expensive yes, worth it yes. I have an old phone, no longer get my nails or hair done as I pay for the denplan. It is what it is. Wish it was easily available on the NHS but it isn’t. My teeth weren’t a priority as a child but I will make sure that my children’s are. We also have both in p/t nursery and it’s £2.3k a month - more than I earn.

Apart from the first year the NHS was rolled out NHS dentistry has always been charged for apart from children pregnant women and certain benefits.
Over the last 17 yrs the proportion of the fee paid to the dentist by the patient has increased at a greater rate than the actual cot of treatment eg initially patients paid 75% of the fee, now it is more like 90-100% of fee. The dentists who have left the NHS have often done so because the patient charge has outstripped the fee resulting in part of the patient charge being paid to the government ( if the charge is £23.80 and the dentists UDA rate or fee is £22 the dentist has to pass on the extra £1.80 to the government)
It’s a ridiculous situation but no government since Tony Blair’s ( who came up with the current contract) has been able to sort out the mess. This suggests that they didn’t want to.
NHS dentistry is no longer workable. Most of my generation who entered the profession and committed to NHS dentistry have given up, retired and are working 1 or 2 days looking after a small list of patients who are happy to pay.
I can now provide high quality dentistry similar to the NHS service I started in 37yrs ago.
It’s very sad but without better funding the service is no longer tenable. Unlike GPS we are not salaried. We have a practice contract which covers everything, materials, overheads, staff salary and the dentists get what’s left over.
I was working for 2.5days a week as NHS dentist. I’m now working one day a week privately and earning exactly the same. I can spend twice as long on treatment, use high quality materials and equipment and patients have time to chat about their concerns or problems. I make no excuse for going over to the dark side, I was no longer able to provide the level of care I wanted to under the NHS. When I owned the practice I was able to absorb the costs of doing it my way by taking a lower income , that my was my choice. After selling my practice 5 yrs ago, and the catastrophic affect of the pandemic, I have to work to the new owners policy. Like every other industry rocketing inflation has hit dentistry hard. The contract funding has not increased in line with inflation and many NHS practices are folding or just giving up.

I’ve not had a dentist for almost 5 years now.

I’ve got 2 abscesses that keep coming and going and one got so big it broke 2 of my teeth and made a filling fall out.
One tooth has now come out completely and the other one only has half left and is really sharp which causes me lots of problems and pain.

I kept getting told it’s not an emergency and so I cannot be seen by an emergency dentist (there were times I could barely speak because my mouth was so swollen).

A few months ago I went on the waiting list for a place that has trainee dentists.
They can replace my filling and remove my broken tooth but they can’t do much else.

They said I probably won’t hear back from them for a few months and it’s likely I will not be seen by them this year.

I think you can only visit them once but at least I’m going to get seen and it’s free.

Whats even worse though is that my DD hasn’t had a dentist in almost 5 years either and her teeth are crooked and not growing correctly and I believe she needs braces but there is no one within a 100mile radius that will take a child patient on and I cannot afford to go private.

It makes me so sad that her teeth will be ruined for life and she’ll probably hate me for it but I just can’t afford it.

For emergencies you can phone 111 or our local hospital opens each night for 2 hours but you ring and it’s first come first served.
I’m not sure if they do treatment I think they would just examine and prescribe antibiotics but maybe worth seeing if there’s something like that near you

I accepted a long time ago (when we moved area, and couldn’t get an NHS dentist) that Denplan was now just one of my bills, like council tax or home insurance. I’m just thankful our dentist will treat the children in the family free to 18 (if they’re in education) if the adults are under Denplan. It’s £50 a month for 2 adults, kids free, and for that £600 a year we’re really well looked after- checkups, hygienist, emergency appts if needed, had a filling repaired with nothing extra to pay. The emphasis is on prevention and good dental health. My teeth are crap (my mum’s were crap too) so it’s definitely worth the money. We economise elsewhere.

NHS dentistry hasn’t been freely available for decades, really.

@Angrymum22 i retired earlier this year and I don’t miss it one bit.
There is undoubtedly a genetic aspect to dental health but I will say this til I’m blue in the face. 99% of problems are preventable.

you cannot have decay without sugar. That’s a fact, law of chemistry, whatever. Some bacteria cause more decay than others but, they simply cannot do that without the presence of fermentable carbohydrate. Just like I have to work harder than my DH not to put weight on, some people have to work harder to stop decay.

Do I expect that seeing a GP twice a year will stop me becoming obese? No. I do my own research and take action based on that and I understand that being overweight is unpleasant but easier than having willpower.

Even on here with a pretty well educated demographic, people still think that they are helpless to stop decay and abscesses. So frustrating.

Even if you phone 111 here for a dentist you cannot always get seen, my sister just had it with her boyfriend, he had an abscess and they had him call 111 for 5 days in a row before they offered him an appointment which was then 40 miles away. They gave him some antibiotics and told him to try find a dentist to have the offending tooth removed.

They’ve spent this week ringing every dentist under the sun and he hasn’t been able to get in anywhere nhs (not surprisingly) but also nowhere private!

I accept that genetics play a part but overall the referrals of young children, having general anaesthetic to have teeth out, is due to poor oral hygiene and that js the parents responsibility.

We really need to move away from this constant focus on the few that are outside the norm. The state cannot afford to treat everyone individually for their own particular problems. We need to move back to looking at the majority.

andtheworldrollson · Today 08:33

Be warned this is what they want for all health service not just dentists and mental health support

You are so right. The current Government don’t care that you can’t see a dentist. They don’t care if you get ill and can’t get treatment. They all have the means to pay privately. They are ok.

NOTE; Come the next election everyone - DO NOT rely on the headlines and social media - go to each manifesto directly. Actively seek unbiased and neutral sources of information. Think honestly, without the headlines, about what REALLY matters to you and talk in depth with your local representatives - grill them on those things.

The only way to do this is to put an X in the appropriate box at the next general election. Any box that isn't next to a Conservative candidate should do the trick.

How are labour going to magic up nhs dentists

And how're they going to be paid for?

MadamVastra · Today 11:22

How are labour going to magic up nhs dentists

The exact same question was asked of Aneurin Bevan when he set up the NHS. How will we get the doctors? Easy. You pay them what they are worth!!

How do we fund it?

Thats easy too. Currently the very wealthy don’t get taxed on the income their wealth generates. There are many many loop holes. If we, as a society, accept that in order to function, we need workers in a variety of roles, and we then accept that everyone should have access to a decent standard of living, health and dental care, then we need to put in place a tax on wealth. Lots of the most wealthy agree.

But we need to let go of the idea of capitalism in its current form. We don’t need socialism as such, but something inbetween. The markets don’t give a shit about about people. We can’t keep leaving important aspects of our lives up to ‘the markets’.

I think you need to get onto a private plan if possible.

Shocks me that people are happy to pay £50pm for broadband/tv and for mobile phones etc but not £30pm for their teeth.

This isn't a dig by the way, just putting it into perspective

Agreed!

The same way they "magicked up" smaller waiting times for surgery and getting seen quicker in A&E for the time they were last in office I imagine.

Funding it properly.

It's a bonkers situation, op. But sadly this is going to become ever more apparent in other parts of the NHS until we get a government that addresses the woeful inadequacies.

On a practical level, call 111 for emergency dental care. Longer tern, can you remain on their waiting list for when they get another NHS dentist (I did this) and could you afford monthly Denplan so it spreads the cost?

Unless you're in a marginal, then use your vote wisely, and tactically. It's the only way in a FPTP system.

Funny I don't remember this shortage or the more general woeful NHS inadequacies last time Labour were in power. Tories are privatising it by stealth. Wake up people.

We just had to pay 🤷🏻‍♀️ We go to our private dentist once a year and a checkup is £60 each. Our two year old is currently free.

The way it's going I'd say that won't happen until state pension age is 75 plus.