Not understanding why some dentists can open and others ( mine) are not

[lovelemoncurd]

The orthodontist reopened a while ago with strict hygiene measures in place. My brothers dentist opened and made sure their patients got their routine appointments. A different brother has had to undertake a filling on himself because his dentist remains shut. My dentist cancelled our routine appointment due to coronavirus.

How can schools reopen, operations take place, people go back to offices yet dentists seem to have the right to stay shut? Yes I know about spray etc when drilling but some dentists seem to be managing this just fine.

Some don’t have the PPE, some dentists have underlying conditions making it more dangerous for them to do the work, some dentists are taking the piss with the government support scheme that had been designed in such a way that there’s little point in them working while subsidised.

I think it’s because the measures they’ve had to reintroduce (huge gaps between patients) mean that it isn’t financially viable for a lot of them to open.
This is what happens when you allow private companies to have NHS contracts. As soon as it stops making profit then they stop providing a service. NHS Dentists are paid in UDA (units of dental activity) so it really is a case of cram as many appointments into as short a time as possible. If you have to leave a half hour gap between patients you can see what that does to the amount of UDA’s that a dentist can earn per day!
Orthodontists have shorter appointments and I think much more private work so it makes sense for them to open. I imagine a dentist who has a big private caseload and patients demanding to be seen would reopen. If I was a dentist nearing retirement with a six bed converted barn in the country and a cycling addiction, I wouldn’t be rushing to open to see six cons patients per day. I’d probably only earn £200.

@RosesinGranGransgarden interesting. I think they have a moral and ethical duty to see and treat patients. Surely any PPE shortfalls have had time to be corrected now. I feel a letter to my MP coming on.

You can’t force a private company to open if they don’t want. It’s not like an NHS hospital, they will just tell you to go somewhere else. There’s a lesson here about profits before patients and the implications of this if we head down the road to private healthcare. I work in the NHS and I’ve been chasing a division which was bought by Virgin for ages. They don’t offer the same service. If pushed I might even go as far as to say they don’t really care. But that’s another thread,

The lack of care at this time is correct. I feel aggrieved that each time I go they batter about me using interdental brushes etc. I feel like saying 'why bother giving patients advice because you've been happy to let patients teeth crumble'?

It's not just the PPE shortfalls. It's having to leave the surgery empty for an hour after any treatment. Our dentist is managing, but by using the hygienist's room as an extra surgery, so the queue for a hygienist appointment is now over 2 months.

To you it may be an "moral and ethical duty" but to the dentists, hygienists, dental nurses, receptionists it's a business which must be viable to pay the wages they depend on. Closing the surgery minimises ongoing costs; opening it under restrictions, depending on the circumstances of the surgery, may mean that costs far exceed income, so that long term viability of business is damaged more by opening than by staying closed.

Don't blame the dentists, blame all those who thought that providing vital services by way of private companies was a brilliant idea.

Our dentist is open but they are still getting through priority cases. I’ve been told to call back in October to try and book check-ups. I did book a hygienist appointment for a couple of weeks time though. This will be a manual scale only, so nothing aerosol generating. The price is still the same however!

OP there’s something called direct access. If you can find a local dentist that’s open then ring them and ask for an appointment as a direct access patient. You pay something like a fiver more for treatment abd you don’t have the expense of joining.

I don’t work In a nhs dentist so happy to be corrected
But As I understand it
They get a set budget a year ( I think)in advance- so 20/21 money was set in 2019
They won’t get any new money and have been told to cover their own costs ( ppe extended treatment time and fallow time for after treatment ) They aren’t allowed to charge their patients for this either - private dentists are free to charge for ppe and raise prices as they see fit
So private dentists are running almost normally ( both my places are)
Which means A lot of nhs dentists can’t afford to do anymore than emergencies currently And their perspective on what’s an emergency isn’t always what their patients see as an emergency

It sucks and it’s horribly unfair.

I think if you’re affected you should write to your mp

I read an article a while back which predicted that 70% of dentists would go out of business due to Covid

Bet they'll all open on November 1st when they don't have another way to get paid. Some business owners, especially those who face little competition, are taking the piss and milking the support schemes for every possible penny in order to have as long as possible away from work. Most of these people will also be those who went abroad as soon as they were allowed and who are going to the pub several times a week, but it isn't possibly safe for them to do any work.

My niece is a dental nurse and said the cost of their PPE is 10x what it was pre-Covid.

This is a private practice that also has NHS patients which is the same as my dentist.