Dentist charges

[CleverSwan]

I rang the dentist to cancel tomorrows appointment as I'm unwell.
When speaking to the receptionist she tells me that I have actually missed the appointment as it was today.
She told me I would have to pay for the treatment that I missed.
I apologise and agreed this was my fault, and agreed to pay.
She then says I would also have to pay £30 cancellation charge.
I disputed this as I haven't cancelled as I missed the appointment and am paying for the treatment.
Surely it's one or the other?
I paid up as I was stunned and she was insitant.. should I argue for a refund? Or AIBU?
I feel the cancellation fee shouldn't have occurred.

I see a dentist is on this thread. Can you please explain this to me. I recently found an NHS dentist to take me on. I had a check up and I was told I brush "well" and my teeth were fine.
I am autistic and struggle to brush my teeth. One tooth has a hole in that I keep fussing with my tongue. I can't eat on one side of my mouth due to pain when I bite down.
Yet my NHS dentist told me I was fine. I was fobbed off because I am NHS, wasn't I?

We have very stressful jobs, and one of the highest suicide rates in the country. If I could do it all again I wouldn’t. Care to swap?

Hey, it’s hard to comment as would need to see what the hole looks like. If it’s due to tooth wear and not carious, for example acid erosion, abrasion from tooth brushing or wear from grinding it might not be essential to fill. A wait and see approach might be enough for the time being. But if it’s is a large crack, or tooth decay, then it requires filling. This is a fact regardless of whether your dentist is NHS or private. You do say you are experiencing pain. If that is the case, it is deemed an emergency and there should be a provision for you to be seen quickly to assess.

I would go back and get some reassurance. The NHS is a huge organisation with very robust quality assurance procedures. Every year they do random checks on patients to ensure that the quality of their dental treatment is of an acceptable standard. I think it would extremely unlikely a dentist would leave a hole unfilled. And if they did, there would be a very good reason with justification in the notes.

Hygienist appointments are private, ours charges £75 whereas my dentist is nhs. I don’t begrudge my dentist money though £26 or whatever it currently is for a 5 minute check up is steep, she gets through 10 patients an hour easily possibly 12, families go in together and they take less time per person than individuals, 10 minutes for 3-4 people.

Your policy of deregistering patients is really v poor and negatively impacts community dental and physical health.

Thanks for your reply. I am to go back for another check up in 3 months to review things.
They did say a lot of my issues were acid erosion and asked about reflux and vomiting. I was just surprised I was sent away and told nothing was needed to be done.
I saw a private dentist as a one off a while back and they basically said I needed £k in work. They said I had a failed root canal. NHS dentist took an x-ray and said nothing about it. I don't know who to believe.

@cryinginthechapel I hear you, I'm a pharmacist and the hate on here and in person is horrendous. People have no idea how hard we work.

This is something that needs to be brought up with your MP- the government make decisions about how much money they want to spend on NHS dentistry, and it's not enough. If patients don't turn up, practices don't get paid. My hairdresser wouldn't book in someone who has a history of not turning up, should dentists be any different?

last month ( March) our practice had 75 patients who either cancelled last minute or did not attend their appointments without letting us know in advance. This very much negatively impacts our community as that time could have been used to treat other patients in pain or have been waiting for a long time to get a space on our books.

practices need to have policies in place to prevent this happening. Patients are aware of the policy as it is displayed ( by law) at the reception desk. It is explained verbally in the surgery, it is printed on their estimate and also emailed to them. If they aren’t happy with the policy they are free to go elsewhere.

Quite frankly yes, because the importance to public health. Children are needing tooth extractions in hospital because of poor childhood dental hygiene. This isn't Sandra not doing your highlights. Very sad that as a dentist, you can't see this.

That happened to me some years ago. A private dentist was offering g free 'assessments' so I went along and was told I needed a load of work and offered a payment plan. The next week I went to my usual NHS dentist checkup and they said everything was fine. I'm now with a good private dentist I trust,(as no other option where I live) and none of those 'urgent issues' has yet come into existence. Funny that.

Except there is no elsewhere, because there are many people who cannot get dental treatment on the NHS. Just because you want to justify an austere policy that negatively impacts the local community, doesn't mean that it's right

Oh what is wrong with people? Bloody hell!

Thank you. Im so sorry for derailing the thread but I’ve had to deal with two really nasty individuals in my practice this week. I’ve been working ( admin and clinical) until almost 9pm most nights, I can’t switch off and I’m exhausted too.
I hope you’re ok. Why is it that on these threads we just can’t win. We try and explain the situation so people can see both sides, and all we get is a nasty comment about owning a fancy car.
on Saturday Im taking my fancy ( Honda jazz) up to visit my colleague who has been off work with burnout, panic attacks and depression so I can check she’s ok.

So if there is no “elsewhere” please be a good patient and let us know if you cannot attend. 🙏
it’s actually not a lot to ask. It’s not austere.

Sure, but if patients are running late or can't give sufficient notice of not attending, how about you don't re-register them.🙏

They can't charge a fee for a treatment and a cancellation fee, that's bonkers! You didn't cancel ,paid the treatment fee so that should be that. Definitely query that cancellation fee and get it back.

I know it's a derail, but I would love to hear from @cryinginthechapel or anyone else, what can we actually do to improve dentistry? I'm disgusted at the state of NHS dentistry in this country.

They can charge a cancellation fee, but charging for the treatment you would have had is insane. I would be looking for another dental practice.

We don’t deregister patients if they are running late or can’t give suffering notice. I never once said that. Of course with good reason we will always make an exception.
However we would consider deregistering repeat offenders who do this time and time again, and time wasters. I suspect we aren’t alone. Doctors, podiatrists, chiropractors, hairdressers, mua, tattooists all have similar policies.

Vets. People hate vets as well.

@cryinginthechapel Out of interest regarding my post up thread. If your practice cancelled my appointment with only 10min notice, would you reimburse ME the same fees charged if I had not shown up or cancelled within 10mins?

lol. We should start a club.

That classic group of doctors, hairdressers and tattooists. Hospital doctors may discharge you back to the care of your GP, however you can always be re-referred. GP practices have very race circumstances of removing a patient from the practice. What you appear not to acknowledge, or be sympathetic to, is the tragedy of oral hygiene in this country and it's relationship to reliable NHS dental access. Dental practices, such as yours going by your description, are so quick to dismiss patients and leave them facing no treatment or paying for private treatment if they can afford it, which they often cannot. Just because you have made a nice warning sign in reception and have written it in red ink on the ceiling over the dental chair, having very low thresholds to dismiss patients from the practice is doing a great deal of harm to public health in this country.

I think the only time that has ever happened in my career was when we had a serious medical emergency and we were waiting for paramedics. We are a big practice with 6 surgeries, and try and help each other out, so I can’t ever see that happening.
we do run late occasionally. 90% of the time the reason we run late is if a patient has arrived late. Then there’s a knock on effect.