Can anyone else not afford the dentist anymore?

[ithinkiveseenthisfilm]

Just looked into my dentists pricing as I’m well overdue a check up.

A check up is £250, with 4 x-rays once a year charged at £60 each. That makes it £490 for a check up.

A hygienist appointment (which you must book together) is a further £120 for half an hour.

I think I need a filling, I was told that would be a minimum of £600. So one visit could end up costing me well over £1,000.

All of the NHS dentists within a 100 mile radius are closed to new patients. I check regularly but what the NHS website says is very different to the actual reality.

It’s an absolute travesty. When did something as basic as dental care become a sheer luxury?

I think it's fair to say from all the responses that your dentist is a rip off!!

I pay £60 for a check up and £65 to see the hygienist. My DD goes to a different private dentist who charges very similar.

We live in am expensive area.

I go when I'm out of the UK. Friend of mind had wisdom tooth removal In top notch dentist in Thailand and that and the check up was just under £60

Not the norm at all in my experience. Sounds like your dentist is a rip off merchant!

@Politicians247UnderwearExtinguishingServicethey won’t kick you off the list for not going twice a year. Usually it’s about 2 years without a check up.

Look for options in all the next towns. Also in towns close to your parents. Anywhere that you have an address you can use.

If you want insurance, Denplan isn't the only option, we use Simply Health and they have always been very good at paying out.

Dentists do not have catchment areas. You don’t need to live local to one. At my NHS practice we have people coming from miles away. I’m not sure if some practices have their own rules about it, but I’m not sure whether that’s technically allowed.

My NHS dentist is 175 for basic clean and I can't afford it! All NHS dentists are oversubscribed where I am

Where do you go? London? I go privately and the check up is about £35. X-rays about £30 each , deep clean £90, filling £200 ish, crown £450. I thought those prices were enough!

I’m not a Reform supporter (wouldn’t vote for any of them currently!) but an insurance based system works well in many European countries. The NHS is pretty good in an emergency, although some hospitals are better than others, as we all know from reading some of the posts on here, but when it comes to general healthcare it’s pretty poor. An eighteen month wait for surgery is pretty common, and if you’re in constant pain that’s a long time to wait. A member of my family in a Scandinavian country had the surgery they needed in four weeks, you’d been waiting in excess of two years over here for a similar procedure. They pay around €70 a month insurance and around €15 - €20 for a doctor. Children are free. We don’t have to follow the US system, look at France, Germany and The Netherlands.

Dental treatment is only free for older people if they are on benefits such as pension credits!

No - dental treatment is an essential and trumps holidays, new clothes etc.

If your teeth are problematic it’s hard-and expensive - to get a dental plan. Save up yourself for any future treatment . It’s not a luxury

As a dentist who works in private practice - that is incredibly expensive!

Costly here too Dublin. Between wisdoms cleaning etc you up at 600/700. Crazy. Important yes but adds up quick.

I stupidly lost my NHS dentist by not going for years then one of my teeth broke. I ended up with a really bad infection and tried the NHS emergency dentist but they don't do extractions. It cos £400 to have the tooth out. If I'd have left it any longer I'd probably have got sepsis

Agreed. Check up here is £80 ish and hygienist similar.

Oh, wow, thanks - I didn't know that! Even more disgraceful.

And if holidays and new clothes are already a luxury that you could never hope to afford?

Yup! In desperate need of a crown on one tooth as having a lot of issues and a couple more need them but not currently causing me any problems. Since my dentist went private a crown has trippled from £250 (which was bad enough) to £750 each. Keep getting flack from my dentist and keep telling him when his prices are affordable again I might be able to have them done until then im more concerned with trying to pay my ever increasing electric/fuel/food/council tax bills, I'll suck up suffering with my teeth till I either win the lottery or I get the pliers out of my tool bag 🤷🏼‍♀️

Would have to keep trying for an nhs dentist then, perhaps have to travel further. If left dental problems will just escalate, I would dread losing my teeth, and the thought of dentures is horrible. Perhaps get a loan as a last resort.

This is it, though. I completely agree with you that it would be horrendous, and would likely get worse; but even if you can find an NHS dentist, the cost for band 2 or 3 treatment might still be more than some people can afford, however hard they budget and compromise on other essentials - especially if you have to factor in travel (and maybe even accommodation) costs if your nearest available NHS dentist is a very long way away. Thinking especially (but not exclusively) of PP who lives on the Isle of Wight, where any trip to the mainland is automatically £££

I guess a loan might be the avenue of last resort - but again, if you've got no fat to trim from your budget in the first place, how would you manage the monthly repayments? And that's if you're in good enough financial standing to be given a loan in the first place. Maybe your only recourse would be to take the loan, not make any repayments and have to fend off endless calls and letters and see your credit rating absolutely destroyed for years. The bank can hardly repossess your teeth!! Still very, very far from the ideal situation of course, though - and again, storing up much bigger problems for future you.

I just think it's bonkers that, if you have a serious and hugely expensive problem with almost all parts of your body, the NHS will cover it in full (or at most you have to pay prescription charges)... but if it's a big bill for your teeth or eyes, you have to beg, steal or borrow or otherwise simply go without that essential treatment.

Complete agree. Healthy teeth are necessary for mental and physical health.

No. I pay £20/month and get 2 check ups and hygienist visits per year included. Never been charged for xrays so assume they're included. Any additional treatment has a discount of I think 20%.

Does it also trump paying your rent bills and eating