My elderly Dad needs his remaining teeth out. They’re rotten and loose. The NHS dentist is asking him to attend about 6 appointments for every tooth that’s extracted. A checkup, fill the tooth at least twice, then remove it, then be fitted for a new denture with an extra tooth, then pick up the denture. Then repeat the process for the next tooth. It’s taking about four months per tooth and this has gone on for two years now. He has had 6 teeth removed and 6 sets of dentures. At this rate it will take another four years to remove all of his teeth and he will be fitted for another 12 sets of dentures.
The remaining teeth are causing pain and he can’t eat properly, he doesn’t want this to drag on any longer. He wants all of his teeth out at once, he wants to be fitted for one single denture, and be done with it. But the dentist has said no, because apparently the NHS only makes a single payment per appointment. So if the dentist removes 1 tooth or 10 teeth he receives the same payment. So he said in order to receive enough money to cover the dental work he needs the patient to attend half a dozen appointments per tooth.
I don’t know what to do. Having the work done privately will cost nearly £3k which is not within reach for a pensioner. And we can’t try a different NHS dentist because there are none within 20 miles. Everywhere we’ve asked they’ve said there are several hundred patients on their waiting list.
Any advice?