NHS dentists!

[elf1985]

My dental surgery has just closed down, the closest surgery to us that is accepting NHS patients is 100 miles away. How on earth do I get my children's teeth checked? My 6 year old has only been once! This is madness

I am really upset reading messages such as this and feel for you and your situation greatly. I’m sorry.

Depending on where you are, there may be practices who will take on children only on the NHS, so maybe a question you could ask when phoning practices is “are you taking on child pts on the NHS”.

Some practices will take on children on the NHS if their parent/guardian join as a private member.

I appreciate neither of these options may be possible/ suitable.

The real solution must come from the government prioritising NHS dentistry and whilst it may seem like a long path, change must come from the higher ups. A phone call to your local representative to explain the situation would be helpful in changing the situation.

As a dentist, I run across those in the commissioning service and government who say that the money for dentistry is not there for you, your children and many many others. This is a choice that they are making, and the only way to change their mind is pile pressure onto them so they can not so easily and flippantly dismiss the oral health needs of generations of wonderful people.

We have to pay privately to get our DC seen by a dentist. It's disgraceful in my opinion. Fortunately we can afford to do this but there must be loads of children who just don't go to the dentist.

Thanks for replying everyone. It's absolutely disgraceful isn't it, and really isn't the fault of the staff on the ground making these things work, it's big wigs who don't have to worry about these things because they can afford private healthcare.

My NHS dentist did this at the start of the year. Now, in my area, there are no NHS dentists taking on new patients and no open waiting lists. Me and my kids have been forced to go private. I have to pay for my dd who is a ft student. This year we have had two check-ups each and one clean each. £500. I am so angry about it and feel it is really unfair, especially as I pay nearly £100 NI a month.

What amazes me is that I talk to people about this and it seems to go one of two ways. Either they haven't seen a dentist for years or they have always been private, people who I would never have expected it of.

The system needs to change.

You pay for your children.

The dentists near us that have changed to private only charge between £5-£20 for children, and they only need a check up once a year.

If the new OM wanted to do something useful he’d sort this out. It’s an absolute disgrace.

*PM

We had to go private. See if your dentist has a denplan (or equivalent) I pay £10 a month per child that covers 3 x. Check ups a year and gets me up to 50% off any treatment they might need.

it’s utterly ridiculous however.

The world has gone to shit.
We had a phone call from our dentist to say their nhs one has left so my dc won't be able to be seen until a replacement is found. We have been waiting months and still no word.
My teeth need work and I don't have a dentist and I can't afford private...it was forty quid just to take a look! No thanks.

Since covid everything has went downhill.

In fact has Labour got any policies covering this huge national scandal?. If so they bloody well should have.

It’s a disgrace. I am unable to work due to disability but yet I still have to pay private as not able to see a Dentist as an NHS patient.

So far this year I have paid over £1000 for treatment privately and have still more to pay in a few weeks as I need more treatment. That’s going to be another £500 plus.
It is an absolute joke and the prices are utterly extortionate for any treatment. We even have to pay a huge deposit at our dentist prior to the treatment. Really pisses me off.

People suggesting we pay for our childrens dental care..that's all well and good but when your mortgage has went up 150 quid a month, food is double the price and childcare and fuel went through the roof and wages haven't gone up it's not that easy for some families. I can't afford another direct debit coming out when previously childrens dentistry was free on the nhs.

We’re in a similar boat, but DD’s father lives 75 miles away so I got her a place en route to him, in the holidays we leave earlier to stop off at the dentist on the way. It’s insane to have to do this but it works. Are there any spaces near a family member so you could combine dentist & visits?

We’re in a similar position but the kids need a dentist and there is no other options around. So if that means I have to save 30 a month by cutting something that’s what happens.

Meanwhile at a teacher of secondary school I’m seeing so many kids with obvious gum disease, huge build up of plaque and even obvious cavities. So so sad.

I have lost all hope of improvements.
What would help would be the general public losing the concept that private treatment is extortionate and dentists are greedy and instead embrace the concept that NHS dentistry is chronically underfunded and has been for years. As a fairly recent thread showed dentists paid the most every year for their ARF, indemnities etc.
The latest debate in parliament was so depressing. All MP’s were in agreement that the UDA system doesn’t work, but as for ideas to fix it - nil. Instead of coming up with ways to encourage younger dentists to enter the NHS system or encourage NHS dentists to stay working, the ideas were to encourage foreign dentists to work.

It's a sad situation but it is in no way the fault of NHS dentists.
My DH is an NHS dentist and they have been treated so appallingly for so long with the government constantly changing policies which is costing them thousands on a regular basis that many can't afford to be NHS anymore.
Even my DH's practice is going private.
They are expected to meet targets that are physically impossible and they get paid significantly less than they used to for more work and have higher costs to pay (equipment, insurances, hire of nurses and hygienists etc)

This is due to poor diet and bad brushing. That's not dentists fault.

Usually a dentist would advise on this at a check up, and catch problems before they get worse. Also- poor diet is causing many issues for kids, malnourishment is increasing. Feeding your child well is costly.

No one is blaming dentists (at least on this thread), I’m certainly not. I’m blaming the government for making this acceptable. It isn’t. Dentists and patients are suffering.

Sorry I wasn’t blaming shoddy dentistry, more that it seemed like there was a lot of kids not accessing any.