to think that dental hygienists are wildly overpriced

[exse24Londoner]

saw my dentist and he recommended I see the dental hygienist to scrape the plaque off my teeth - as one side was a concern he said an hour would be best.

when I booked in I was told it would be £178!!! for one hour!!!! WTAF??????

I had to see an osteopath the other month & she charge £60 for 50 mins - that 50 mins included a consultation with a healthcare professional educated to MSc level + diagnosis & treatment who has independent accountability.

how on earth can the dental surgery think that £178 is reasonable???? btw I am pretty certain that the majority of the cost isn't going into the pocket of the dental hygienist

Exactly it’s a money making racket. They scare you to death by saying this and that. And they can loosen your existing filling too. They patronise on how to brush your teeth. If you clean your properly and floss your teeth regularly you shouldn’t need to see a hygienist. Only under special circumstances The dentist himself would just do a scale and polish many years ago for free. So why all this hype about seeing a hygienist.

Good for you I do exactly the same. They are greedy bastards I’m sure someone people do really need to visit a hygienist. I visit dentist every year. And every time he tell me to see the hygienist I just let it go through one ear and out the other 😁

The dentist will definitely get a cut. That price is wildly overpriced. The hygienist at my dentist charges about £70 but even that is overpriced I think. The dentist should do it themselves as it comes under Band 1 (if you have an NHS dentist which I appreciate not everyone has)
It says in the guidelines that there has to be clinical need which if they refer you then that exists!

That’s very high. Mine is €85 and worth every penny.

As a Canadian, I’m so confused. You don’t usually see a hygienist who “scales” (or cleans the plaque) off your teeth?
That’s essentially all people see in Canada unless they have an issue. Most people go every 6 months for a dental hygienist cleaning (to scrape the plaque off, polish your teeth and apply flouride, if needed).
Usually you only see the dentist for 5 or so minutes, every year or two.
What happen when you go to the dentist? Are you not getting your teeth cleaned??

Ridiculous. I have a fantastic hygienist I’ve been seeing for about 12 years now. She is called the sparkle fairly and she comes to your house with all her kit including recliner chair and all the machinery. £80 a time and I can claim it back via my Denplan too. Highly recommend her. https://www.thesparklefairy.co.uk/ Also I’m in Greater London and she is now based in Derbyshire (was originally in West Sussex) but she travels to her clients so it’s perfect for me.

That is double what i pay. Dentists used to do a check up and polish but it's far more profitable to charge you twice and have a lower paid employee carry out half the work. Find yourself a more reasonable dentist.

Not anymore the dentist don't even do a basic scale and polish anymore. You raise a good point unless there's an issue you might as well just pay a hygienist

NHS dentist suggests I see hygienest. It’s £75.
already an expensive month say I’ll think about it. Go to reception and ask how far ahead are they booking for hygienest? Receptionist says “oh you probably don’t need a hygienest, the dentist suggests it’s to everyone to meet their quota” 🤔🤔 I went ok see you in 6 months for the next dental check up

I pay £21 a month and get 2 dentist checkups and 2 hygienist. I'm in an expensive part of the North where plenty of private but NHS places rarer than hen's teeth.

That sounds you're not getting your teeth looked after by a dentist - 5 mins every year or two .

I have similar - 28 pounds a month 2x2 , dental travel accident insurance and 10% off other private services. SE of England. I pay for an extra clean. You have to keep your eyes on these packages as to best value.

You don't need an hours hygiene visit, unless you have gross calculus (tartar), which by the sounda of it, isn't the case, and even if it was the case, you wouldn't need an hour. Ask to book in for half an hours appointment.

Hygienists are not paid minimum wage. They can command a good hourly rate.

I think it probably varies a lot according to whether or not people have an NHS dentist or private, whether they have existing issues, and what they can afford. I see the hygienist twice a year who does the scale and polish. They are private so it’s quite expensive. I also see the dentist twice a year, who doesn’t scale or polish but checks for cavities and abnormalities like oral cancer, he checks the gums too. He does X-rays once a year. I’m very lucky to have an NHS dentist so it only costs £27 per visit. If I didn’t have an NHS dentist, I probably would only go once a year because of the cost.

Meanwhile my husband literally never goes to the dentist or hygienist. We do have a dentist friend though and DH occasionally asks him to have a quick look 😂

DH has much better teeth than me (no fillings) but my gums are in a better state than his.

It used to be the norm for the dentist to scale and polish after dental treatment and some were better at it than others. Those that really got to the gums causing a bit of pain in the process, were the ones that were the best for me as that meant my teeth felt wonderfully glossy for months afterwards. I've been disappointed with most hygienists' work and it seems to be getting poorer and poorer. The last time, about 4 years' ago, she charged me £50 for about 10-15 minutes, and I had to keep asking her to do more and I felt it wasn't done well at the finish so I've not used her services since. I've seen hygienists' adverts at other practices and am inclined to check them out, so this post is timely. The quoted prices are grossly inflated and just unfair.

That's like DH and I. I brush my teeth, tongue and floss.
DH could brush better and doesn't floss, dentist always praises his oral hygiene and each and every time, I'm told how to do better. No matter how hard I try.

Like PP said, my Grandparents had their teeth till in their 90's, only brushed once a day if lucky, and not always with toothpaste.

In Tokyo, dental hygienist costs me 2400円. In terms of purchasing power, that's about £22. They do a fantastic job, show me photos of the inside of my mouth, give me a score showing how good my home hygiene and telling me if I had any areas of bleeding.

We pay the equivalent of national insurance and then when you get medical treatment you pay a small fee on top. I recently had 4 small filings put in and I can't remember the cost but it was something crazy like less than £100 for all. The only catch is that the insurance backed appointments are time limited so they sometimes have to break treatments into several sessions.

Back in the UK I paid £18 a month I think for 2 hygiene visits a year plus 1 checkup plus 10% discount on treatment.

Mine cost £50. I was in the chair for 10 minutes total. Felt very rushed.

I don’t understand it, but what a minging job to have to do day in day out. The thought disgusts me.

Sugar

is it worth going onto a dental plan? You pay a monthly fee and get 4 appointments pa and a discount off any treatment (or something to that effect). Or you could get a healthcare cash plan like BHSF (check martin lewis on these types of plans) where you pay a monthly fee and get reimbursed for dental expenses (and lots more). Worth checking out to see if they will work for you. Finally shop around and maybe change dentist if there is any availability to do so.

It's skilled work though isn't it? Ultimately they decide how much they charge, you can't forced them to charge less. That's slavery.

My NHS dentist does a scale and polish during a routine checkup, generally takes 10 mins. I can't imagine how it could take an hour unless there was years of buildup to remove!

My dentist cleans mine on every visit. And I’m NHS but do pay. Don’t think it makes a difference but it might.