Possible silly question about nhs/private dentists

[RainbowLoom]

If I'm an NHS patient do I get the same treatment etc at the dentists as a private patient at the same practice?

Essentially if I have dental insurance cover is there any value in registering as a private patient if I am already registered as an NHS patient?

I'm asking about the actual treatment and products offered. I know if I give up the NHS registered place I won't get it back, and may not always have dental cover. But I really just want to know like for like, same practice, same dentist.

I think that as an nhs patient you can't have, for example white fillings but you can pay for the cost of the filling and remain nhs. There are lots of similar examples.

I finally got accepted as nhs after many years of waiting at our practice which is mainly private. Then I had to have an emergency appointment for a broken tooth which had to be paid for privately as the nhs dentist wasn't available. The implant I now need is very definitely going to be private. I am, however, still registered as nhs.

Sorry, don't know about the dental plan other than knowing that others have it and think it good.

So nhs good but has limitations which can, on the main be topped up if you want.

IME private dentistry is about preventing problems and NHS dentistry is about treating problems once they occur.
I want to recent problems so go private on a dental plan.

We have better, more.expensive equipment to use on private patients

I would go along with lone cat. In my experience of private dentistry, much more emphasis and time was spent with the hygienist than the dentist. Now I am with an nhs dentist, there is no hygienist, just a very quick scale and polish.

If you can afford to, I would go with the preventative private dentistry rather than NHS.
They do use higher quality filling materials etc with private patients.