Is anyone else on a middlish income finding that dentistry is a real luxury?

[Pruni]

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What a gross job it is though.... I know it pays well but jesus, it's up there with podiatry I reckon....

Dadada its not all about the money. I used to be an NHS dentist (am now NHS doctor). the NHS pays you to do the crappiest version of any treatment, the cheapest filling, the most basic crown, dentists LOOSE money if they provide good root canal work (it only pays to do a shite rush job). Most dentists did not leave the NHS for the money, but because they were fed up of being trained to provide excellence, and only being able to offer the most basic. The new system also pays the same amount for one filling as it does for 10, and I don't know of any other profesion that would gladly do ten times the work for the same pay.

How many fillings would you realistically need to do in one consultation? Is it often 10?

I finally managed to get registered with a dentist, presuming it was on the NHS list. By their sleight of hand it turned out I was a private patient. The first thing the dentist asked me was had I considered having a slightly wonky tooth corrected? Cost - something exhorbitant. Then begrudgingly carrying out a couple of fillings, and a separate kerching appointment with a hygienist. I realise a lot of these issues have their root (sorry) with the government, but I have seen far more profiteering from my dentist (who, ultimately. has one over a barrel) than I ever have from my optician.

Is it too much to expect them to look, objectively, at the patient's mouth, rather than the pay slip.

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Hmmm. I have rubbish teeth. I had a private consultation a few months ago (£150 for 20 minutes and a few x-rays - niiiice) and was told that I needed two ordinary fillings, plus two specialist root canals that would cost upwards of £2000 EACH. Naturally I fainted and ran away, and got myself an NHS dentist, who is giving me two fillings and one extraction.

I don't know whether the private dentist was being fantastically thorough or totally mercenary. I guess I'll find out next time I eat some toffee.

You should sit down with your private dentist and decide what you want for your teeth. For some patients, that will be a basic level of health but for others there will be a cosmetic requirement. If you have said to your dentist that you only want to make sure that each tooth is sound, and you don't care about how your smile actually looks, then your dentist should not be offering orthodontia, whiteneing etc.

I have had this consulation with both my current and former dentist, and we are therefore totally aligned.