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?

You obviously weren’t working in NHS dentistry.

I'm afraid we're going to be in the situation that people were before NHS dentists. Rotting teeth/bad breath/multiple extractions ( by doing it yourself). Gum disease leads onto other health problems if not treated.
I can't afford a dentist and haven't been for 6 years.
It's all very well saying you can take out finance but even that amount per month is unviable. So, eventually we will be able to judge someone's social standing by how good their teeth are! We are all doomed to be toothless hags!

T'is true unfortunately. Trouble is, when you get to the point where the opposition is also shit, just hopefully less shit, things have become very dire.

Just paid £1800 for my DD to have all four wisdom teeth out as she couldn't afford it. Two were growing horizontally.

I have Denplan for myself which covers a lot of things but my dentist referred me to a private practice for treatment as I have some bone erosion. I paid the £98 assessment fee, but then I was told it would be £700 for the initial treatment so that's a no go after DDs treatment. Just have to take my chances.

Ring 111 for some antibiotics. I've done it loads of times. They will let you see an emergency dentists but that dentist will ONLY pull teeth, they won't do fillings, crowns or root canals, you have to go private for those.

NHS dentistry is basically gone.

So, either you pay private rates (which, shockingly, can actually be cheaper than NHS anyway) or you don't access dentist care.

That's the blunt reality of Tory Britain in 2023.

It didn’t start with this Tory government, I’m afraid.

I hadn't seen a dentist in ten years. Now I bung it on a credit card.

As for those who want a refund of their national insurance for NHS dentistry ...... the total spend , each year , per person treated INCLUDING patient payments is around £36 . Less than 50% of the population , historically , see a dentist . How much dentistry will that buy when one room in a practice doing NHS dentistry in a cheap area will cost upwards of £120 an hour to run?

We are now at a situation where NHS dentistry has been historically underfunded for decades to such an extent it would take a massive investment just to get back to the situation we were in in 2006 when the "new" contract was brought in that sounded the death knell for NHS dentistry in England and Wales.

Realistically if you cannot afford private dentistry your only options are be prepared to travel many miles to find a dentist , access limited emergency dental treatment via 111, or join the long waiting lists (many of which are closed) to be treated by students as a one off at a dental school or outreach clinic.

However be aware that in the whole of England the NHS is run by clinical commissioning groups who decide where funding goes. Not one dentist sits on any CCG. Dentistry is not at the back of the queue for NHS funding , it can't even see the queue.

I've been dealing with this for the past month. No NHS dentist and paid a fortune to be told I had an infected root which needed extraction. Couldn't afford it so just took antibiotics and hoped for the best. But straight after that I got an abscess on another tooth and also a cracked wisdom tooth broke even more leaving me in sheer agony. I called 111 and they got me an emergency appointment at an NHS dentist who has now referred me to a dental hospital as I need 3 complex extractions. Basically you need to be in agony and 111 will find you one.

The situation is awful. we are slightly lucky that we are private but the prices aren't extortionate compared to some ive heard. The kids are free if the parents pay aswell, so it's not too bad.

We have always been outliers though. Most other countries in the world provide free care up to 18, and for low earners. Everyone else has to pay or has insurance to cover it. Free at the point of use for all, for everything, is not sustainable.

I’m fortunate and have a private dentist and Denplan. Poor DS however is away at Uni and has been unable to register with an NHS dentist in the area. He called me in tears with toothache the other week. I told him to call 111 which he did, they advised a dental practice would call him to arrange an appointment within 48 hours. He’s still waiting! Luckily we found a private dentist for him and I’ll foot the bill but it is bloody ridiculous.

Correct it didn't. I have not been able to access a NHS dentist since 2003.
From what I gather, access to NHS dentistry has got worse since then but that decline hasn't just happened in the last 13 years, it's been going on for at least 20 years.
The same can be said of many NHS services, not just dentistry.😥

It is scary how we just seem to accept that dentistry has to be paid for privately now.

I have a friend who had a mass removed from inside her jaw (thankfully it was nothing sinister) that was only picked up because she had a dentist to notice it on an x-ray. How many oral cancers are going undetected and left to progress because people can't find a dentist.

As a PP said, gum diseases can also lead to other health issues. You can't call 111 and get help for that at all, and all the flossing/TeePee in the world wont help if you need your roots cleaning (which is £££). You are just left to watch your teeth eventually fall out, or have your teeth distort out of position where it affects eating, speech, and mental health.

A lovely lady I know has several of her front teeth twist out of position. Her gums are awful (they will bleed if she eats anything). She is constantly pulling her lips into odd shapes as she is uncomfortable and is trying to hide her teeth. She lost her dentist during Covid, and can't find an NHS dentist. I have one tooth that is doing the same, and I am in the same boat... no dentist, can't find one and can't afford private.

It's ridiculous

I popped down to my local dental clinic that was not taking on any new patients and paid £2.5k for Invisalign

Over the 6 months or so I was treated by the orthodontist who happened to be a partner, and managed to sweet talk her into having a word with the receptionist about adding us to their private clinic

I now pay £15 per month for me and my two children and we can get seen within 24 hours

However, my neighbour who recently moved to the area has been told by the same clinic that their waiting list for private patients is 24m

But sure, if you can pay cash for Invisalign you can bump the queue

Can't afford it my left main chewing tooth is fucked massive deep crack, I'm going to loose it and in pain. No option

My dd is a teenager and went on the waiting list for the orthodontist at 7. She was seen at 11. I've told her she's extremely lucky (or unlucky! She has a under formed bottom jaw so needs a lot of work) to have been referred from the NHS and to take every bit of work offered before she turns 18.

I have denplan, but need a complex extraction and have waited 2.5 years to see oral surgery at the NHS hospital. I've just been told the wait for an extraction under GA will be another 2 years.

So even with a private dentist to get us in front of a dentist, we've waited a combined 6.5 years after referral for treatment. It's absolutely mad.

There's absolutely no way that I could find £300 in one month let alone for that long a period. I haven't had a holiday in years. I'm sure I'm far from alone in that.

No, in this country we are meant to be entitled to ‘free’ healthcare, hence why we are taxed NI.

National Insurance is just another tax. It doesn't go in a separate pot for spending on NHS/welfare (as was the original plan) Bit of a misnomer. But I agree, average earners in UK pay high taxes and get increasingly little for them.

Well paying £40/month for broadband means I can work from home. We could cancel it, I could go to the office, but that would cost maybe £80-£100/mth in train tickets (less if I get the bus, but that would take a lot longer and either way I have a half hour walk to get to the office once I get into town).

How do you think that might help?

Most people do not pay enough as it is. You know why the Nordic countries have good services? Because everyone, including the low paid, pays some taxes, and then gets better service. That's the social contract. Not I want good service, but I want someone else to pay for it!