AIBU to think children should get free dental treatment

[Angelfire84]

My dentist, like the majority in my area, has recently become private. My DD (13) needs braces and the orthodontist has said she needs to have 4 teeth removed first. I need to pay £420 for her teeth to be removed. AIBU to think children should still be entitled to free dental treatment even if the dentist has gone private. I have tried to get her into a NHS dentist but none of the NHS dentists in my area are taking on new NHS patients.

And dependant on pt’s dental hygiene, ongoing care, type of crown, pt’s age, location etc. I haven’t personally seen any last as long as you have.

Published then but using figures from 2012/ 2013. As I said figures have dropped since then and continue to drop so are around 16% now.

But none of this impacts the fact that most NHS treatments lose a practice money

In almost forty years in the same practice you see what works and what doesn't.

Root fillings on uncomplicated teeth in good mouths can last really well. I have one on an upper 6 that's now over 50 years old (bruxing damage during a levels)

Oops should have said 40 years old ! Making myself even more ancient than I am

50 years! Thank you for sharing, that’s very interesting. Would like to see this myself sometime.

My son had 4 teeth removed via an nhs dentist prior to braces
in his case his teeth were so misaligned that it was beyond cosmetic.
a year on they are looking a lot better and we are so grateful. He has just turned 18

The vast majority of students who study dentistry in the UK come from state schools. Not everything can be blamed on private schools. The main competition is from other state school pupils. Why do you think lots of state school parents don’t pay for private tuition? Many of my colleagues tutor state school pupils.

My practice does the kids on NHS if parent(s) are paying - I thought that was quite common? Perhaps we’re very lucky.

Unfortunately new dental contracts coming in England and Wales are prioritising people who have not been in for years and have problems. These patients need a lot of work, have high failure rates ( 40% of new NHS dental toothache patients fail to turn up and dentists are not paid for missed appointments).

Therefore many practices that have kept on small NHS contracts are getting rid of them as they cannot afford to see a large cohort of patients with massive dental needs, get them healthy, then see the next cohort of people with problems. There is no more money going into NHS dentistry, the government has said this, so they are prioritising emergency access, which would be fine if it was funded but it isn't.

That’s terrible

Have you not seen ones with silver points on x-rays? They’ll be roughly that old

I must be lucky. My dentist is private but my son has free treatment. He had a brace two years ago and had to have five teeth taken out, four molars and a stubborn baby tooth and that was free. South Wales valleys if that makes any difference.
I had his teeth cleaned after the brace came off and that was £40 as it wasn’t covered by NHS treatment

It's also not true , because

a the rate of private school entrants is now around 16% and dropping and more importantly

B no matter what school you went to the NHS does not pay enough to cover surgery costs. In the past private subsidised NHS but this is no longer financially possible.

Two friends have recently given up their NHS contracts because last year they both lost a 6 figure sum on it.

New graduates are graduating with £80,000 to £100,000 debt and with registration , indemnity student loans etc 50% of what they earn goes straight away. They can't afford courses , equipment etc to progress and certainly will find it very hard to ever be able to buy into a practice. With this and the climate of.litigation in the UK many give up clinical.practice or move abroad.

Schooling/background makes no difference if the government won't even pay enough to cover costs.

Exactly , the average amount spent per person treated per year on NHS dentistry, including patient payments is £36! You couldn't get a plumber out for that , a garage would laugh at you.

@Lollygaggle Quite, £36 wouldn’t cover any other types of service nowadays (plumbing, electrical, mechanical) so how could it possible cover dental services?!

To bring back “free” dental care for children, it’s got to be paid for somehow, presumably through taxation. Dental practices have to pay overheads and salaries like any other business.