are dentists open as usual yet

[nitgel]

I've just realised I have a check up tomorrow! am imagining it will still be emergencies only but they haven't emailed me. Obs I will call but does anyone know what's happening regarding dentists yet?

It's emergencies only at our place, are you NHS or private? Our NHS one isn't doing checkups at all, they have a note on their website. I broke a tooth a couple of weeks ago, an old filling that's gone bad, and had to get an emergency appointment. He said they weren't allowed to drill or do anything invasive because of particles flying around and lingering, so he just had to patch it up with some cement and will redo after they open properly.

Mine is open as usual. I have a routine check up and a dental hygienist appointment next week which they confirmed were still on by phone on Friday. There is an additional charge for PPE at my dentists practice which is £7 for non aerosol work and £40 for anything aerosol based E.g. fillings

50 50 then . I am NHS

Mine's private. I had an email a few days ago saying my check up is due and would I like to book.

I'm NHS and mine are opening to pain patients only tomorrow. I need seeing but not in pain and they expect that to be in a few weeks and after all those patients have been seen they will do check ups again.

Mines a mix of NHS and private, I'm and NHS patient. They're only doing emergencies/pain/people who were mid treatment before lockdown etc. They can't give me any kind of time scale as to when routine/other appts will resume. DD and DH are both overdue their check ups and I'm particularly concerned about DD's as it will only be her second ever check and she has a dummy (she's 2) and eats mostly fruit so I'm always worrying about it.

I have had an abcess for the whole of lockdown (it had already had a root canal on it so I wasn't in any pain with it, but had a massive gum boil that leaked pus) I had the tooth extracted last week. I also booked a check up for the beginning of August for myself and child. This is NHS so things are starting to open back up.

I've been ringing mine for weeks trying to get in as I need to go, and I keep getting told that they're waiting for government advice. There's nothing on their website about it.

Mine's private and still not open. DS has been able to go to the orthodonist but not the dentist. It's starting to piss me off that they won't let us know what is happening. It's been 5 weeks since they have been allowed to open and nothing is happening.

Mine's NHS, and I've been invited for a checkup later this week.

Mine is NHS and my hygienist appointment was cancelled in June and when you call the surgery it says it’s closed and gives the local emergencies number.

I phoned to see if I could get an appointment for DCs’ 6 monthly check up. They said they have a huge backlog of emergency appointments and to ring back in a month. NHS btw

Mine is open with a HUGE PPE charge.

I had a letter last week cancelling my routine appointment this month. Next one is booked for 6 months time. I am NHS

My appointment was cancelled.

I had a routine appointment due today. They cancelled it by text last week and then sent an e-mail the following day saying how their hygienist was taking bookings and how important it is not to neglect your dental health.

New guidance come out this week. NHS dentists will be paid the same to see 16 percent of what they were before. They have no incentive to open. This is the start of the the selling off of NHS dentistry as we know it. The Gov want dental hubs for emergencies only - other than that? you; pay for it, privately.

Dentists will NOT be paid the same as before.

Private dentist, I went today for a checkup, it was all fine, the usually plush waiting room had just two SD plastic chairs so they could be cleaned easily, sanitiser gel at entrance
The dental surgery was very sparse with a different dentist chair to the normal one, I guess for easy cleaning. My hygienist appointment was cancelled but my dentist gave my teeth a manual clean with the poky thing. I pay a dental plan so I guess any price rises will be when it renews.

No they are bloody not. My thrice rebooked hygienist appt for the 20th AUGUST was cancelled by text a week ago with a message NOT to call them about it! It essentially said we are cancelling your appt for reasons out if our control, don't ring us about it. WTAF! They might have well have just told me to fuck off. "Fuck off you can't have an appointment." I think I'd have actually preferred the honesty of that. You would think dentists don't want to earn any money. They am certainly don't know how to treat their customers. Fuckers.

@Blondebear123

Dentists will NOT be paid the same as before.

NHS ones are!!

Palacegirl, well the NHS ones have only just been told yesterday what they'll be paid and how their activity will be monitored. They will deduct a furlough percentage off us for the period we were closed but then, yes the NHS practices will be paid their normal income for their NHS work.

I've been seeing patients face to face for 5 weeks now and the number of people we can seen in a day with all the guidelines is so low compared to pre COVID-19.

As many of you are saying we are prioritising people who've had problems and were now starting seeing treatments that have been postponed.

Those practices that haven't started seeing patients yet may have been waiting for fit testing or PPE. All English NHS Practices should be open from next Monday for face to face appointments.

I don't want to think about how many routine check ups are overdue as the way we are working currently we couldn't fit them in. Unless the guidelines change drastically we'll be prioritising children and those with high risk of decay and gum disease.

We can only see a limited amount of patients per day now. I used to see 25+ per day, now more like 5 due to increased distancing and hygiene measures. We are seeing as many as possible at this reduced capacity, but there has to be a system for highest need first and lower priority being rescheduled. Every practice will differ with this depending on staffing levels and actual physical space available to see patients as safely as possible.

Also there are conditions to receiving NHS funding that the practice must meet. Mainly being open as much as possible to prioritise NHS patient capacity and maximise access. We often work at a loss on an individual patient level, ie NHS funding does not always cover the actual cost of a procedure. Hence the disparity in private and NHS prices. So it would not be feasible to open NHS practices at all if the funding were cut further.

Mine is private and open as normal. Both me and DS had routine check up last week and I am seeing the hygienist later today.

No charges for PPE either.

I do think that GP surgeries and dentists should be finding ways to be open 'normally' now. There was a lady on another thread who had an issue picking something up from a GP surgery People have to be careful but things do need to operate.