What are dentists doing exactly?

[musicalfrog]

Genuine question as I don't think non urgent dental care is available (still). Nobody can get check ups which surely is bread and butter work for dentists. What are they doing with their time, and aren't they worried about losing their regular income?

I have no idea how the system works but there must be an imbalance of some sort at play here.

Ive just been getting emails that they're only treating people in pain, who are going through treatment and remember prevention is better than cure lectures.

I have half a tooth missing and filling that's fallen out. I was told by the receptionist if the dentist thought it was urgent, they'd phone. That was five weeks ago and still haven't heard.

Hygienists can only do hand scaling ie “scraping around” otherwise it’s an AGP and you will need to pay for their time plus an hour of fallow surgery time and full PPE - FFP3 mask and gown. That’s why hand scale only. Hand scaling is harder work- we will have a pandemic of carpal tunnel in hygienists after this! It takes longer too- why should it cost less??

I have managed to get a dentists appointment within a week but I mentioned I was pregnant at the beginning of the call. The reason I phoned was because I've been having gum issues so I suspect suspected gingivitis/pregnancy has put me ahead in the queue.

I was really surprised to be offered an appointment and tbh I had been delaying calling the dentist because I thought they'd turn me away.

I've had two routine appointments with my dentists since July. One for me and the other for my kids. It's business as usual.

Ii depends whether they are NHS or private. Private are running as normal, NHS dentists have already been paid so less incentive to treat.. However, there are conscientious NHS dentists who are still treating patients as required.

Isn't hand scaling teeth just as effective at removing tartar though? Just a different method?

I'm really surprised at the variation in areas/practises.

Had a family check up booked last week (me, DP and DD), this means they dont need to clean the room between us as we are one h/h. Contacted the day before to say they are cancelling DDs but not mine and DPs. Its because she is NHS and we pay privately, dental nurse kept saying its was against the guidelines, so I asked for her to email me the relevant guidance that says you can have a check up but only if you pay and if you dont you cant. I dont know if phrasing it in this way made her suddenly realise what she was saying as she was suddenly very apologetic. I explained that if that's the case all 3 of us would be moving to another practise as I couldn't support a dentist that feels NHS patients are not worth his time after being closed for months. I've also wrote an email to him explaining the same, I can afford to pay privately for DD but what about others who are not in that position and desperately need treatment?

And sorry to add DD is the one that needs to see someone as grinds her teeth and her guard doesn't fit correctly anymore.

Also very surprised at the variation. We had multiple appointments cancelled in July and August but this month, me, DD and DH all had routine NHS checkups. There was only 5 minutes between me and the previous patient although a third person in the room (in addition to the dentist and dental assistant) started cleaning around me while I was chatting with the dentist at the end about brushing technique! Me and DH have hygienist appointments booked over the next few weeks. We have to pay privately for these and the cost has increased by an eye watering £20 per appointment.

@bobby335 mine is private and definitely not business as usual. As with GPs and hospitals its sounds as though there is massive variation.

Cancelling appointments. I have now had 3 appointments cancelled. I wish they would stop sending me put an appointment unless they can keep it. I am fed up keeping date empty only to be cancelled with 1 day notice.

*This makes no sense. She wants to work more but can't, even while patients are wanting? Is that down to a lack of space at her practice?

This feels like the next big CV scandal (or one of them)*

There isn't space in the practice for them to have rooms being deep cleaned while others are in use for agps. Also they are not seeing routine check ups so there is a lot less work overall. She is a salaried dentist and the partners have chosen instead of making someone redundant to reduce everyone's hours. My understanding is they have an NHS patient "book" that provides a basic stipend but get paid for actually seeing people etc. Obviously there is much more money in offering private services but her practice doesn't see private patients.

Her flatmate is a private dentist who is back working full pelt but doesn't feel particularly safe as the absolute cheapest ppe has been bought and they only have an extra 5 mins between patients to clean the rooms.

Mine delayed reopening as they had used the time to decorate the surgery and then had to get COVID measures in place. I phoned them when the website said they were seeing patients but they would let me book and told me I have to wait for them to contact me.

It does seem to vary a lot. I've seen the dentist twice and the hygienist once in the last two months with no issues at all, for aerosol generating procedures. But this is a private practice and I'm lucky to be able to afford that (including the £40 PPE charge). I know several people who can't see their NHS dentist with no date in sight and it's awful. There's nothing like tooth pain.

Depends - during the peak in March-June we had some community dentists redeployed to our ICU (and a lovely bunch they were too ).

I saw my private dentist last week, and apparently they just shut for six months, so zero income. They are open now, but have to leave an hour between appointments to allow airborne droplets to settle (or something), so only seeing about six patients a day.

So yeah, huge drop in earnings. I don’t think they want to do this! They are self employed....

They are open now, but have to leave an hour between appointments to allow airborne droplets to settle (or something),
Yes, it's called 'fallow time' but this is only where aerosol has been used ie the high speed drill or ultrasonic scaler. No fallow time is required for check ups etc.

They are open now, but have to leave an hour between appointments to allow airborne droplets to settle (or something),
Yes, it's called 'fallow time' but this is only where aerosol has been used ie the high speed drill or ultrasonic scaler. No fallow time is required for check ups etc.

My (private) dentist said that NHS dentists are not working because they are being paid anyway.

I should have clarified earlier, I saw my NHS dentist (in England) for a check up recently. They started seeing routine patients again this month.

@vjg13 Not all private dentists are working normally. Mine (all private, no NHS) has reopened this month and is contacting patients to offer checkups, supposedly in order of when their appointment should have been.
However, the friends I know who have been contacted and have all had checkups are all paying privately for the checkup. I am on Denplan and - along with a couple of other Denplanners I know at the same surgery - have not been contacted., despite having my February appointment cancelled so I should have been further up the list.
You are not allowed to ring the surgery unless in pain and in an emergency, but must wait to be contacted.
It does feel as if they've got money coming in from Denplan so don't need to treat us, but are treating people who pay as they go as that brings in extra money.

But

I usually am an nhs patient but has pain in my tooth so booked a private check up at the same surgery . Had check up last week and now having fillings redone this Friday . Much more expensive than nhs but needed doing .

My dentist is heavily advertising teeth whitening but no check ups. I'm NHS patient though.

My sil was in yesterday and she is an nhs patient however she got a few small bits sorted out and as she was leaving she was charged about £150, there was no mention previously that she would have to pay as normally doesn't have to pay any cost. That's her food budget for the rest of the month gone, she is lucky has family who will help her out of she hadn't I shudder to think.

Dentist here. We are providing all treatments as normal but hygiene procedures mean a hugely reduced capacity across the practice (I guess around 40%) and much increased waiting time for any kind of appointment. I am 95-99% NHS.