BIL, Benefits, an Inheritance, and the Cosmetic Dentist

[MidnightFanta]

BIL is on benefits and has been for around 20 years. He is registered disabled, an alcoholic, smokes weed daily, and is naïve and impulsive in equal measure. He also has hardly any teeth and wears dentures, which are very old. The teeth thing is actually not his fault. MIL took prescription medication whilst pregnant, which resulted in his adult teeth coming through brown and crumbly.
He has recently received an inheritance meaning that all his benefits have been stopped. He is expected to live on the money and his benefits will only be restarted once it drops below the threshold, and providing his spending is not seen as deprivation of capital.

There is a cosmetic dentist within three minutes walk of his home. Yesterday he visited them for a consultation and they offered him a full set of implants, top and bottom, for £38,000. He has always wanted perfect teeth so signed the contract and paid his deposit.

How can we stop this? He didn't even shop around or negotiate. He can't even get on a bus to go to another dentist. I don't want to stop him getting dental treatment but there's no way DWP will accept this, surely? He'll end up destitute. He's already been scammed several times, had his bank account emptied twice, been ripped off by a curtain company, and ordered a sink without a tap, plumbing or anyone to fit it.
These things I can deal with, but not this.

Any suggestions?

I don't think the spend is unreasonable tbh though I do understand the DWP having a different view HOWEVER

I do think it may cause more problems than it solves if he doesn't stop smoking and drinking. The implants will fail. Which the dentist should have explained to him and I think refused to do the work.

Which makes me wonder what sort of outfit this dentist is running.

I agree with others that if you can possibly manage it, get him to go and see another dentist that also does NHS work and see what they think for a second opinion.

If it's not cosmetic but essential surely it would be available on the NHS? Or at least some kind of treatment costing less than 38k would be available to him.

Judging by the dentist's website I do not have high hopes for their professionalism.

If he doesn’t have good oral hygiene, stop smoking and have a healthy balanced diet the implants will fail and he’ll be back to square 1, just £38k worse off.

Look at reviews from this dentist. Also, make sure that the bill is paid for by credit card. I know this because ... my brother spent £18,000 on his teeth not long before he died at 56. However he wasn't that happy with them but they had gone out of business. A simple way of helping to protect your brother, sorry haven't read everything, PIP is not affected by income, i know someone on £50k who gets it

OP you have had some good suggestions and comments here. What hasn't been said is that (sorry) if he is competent to make his own decisions, there is nothing that you can do. As I understand it, the NHS will not fund dental implants or assist with any problems resulting from dental implants...at least that was my experience when I had one that failed. It was not my fault or the fault of the dentist, was done some 17 years ago, one failed and one did not. The dentist who did mine was mortified at the failure and did all the subsequent revision work free of charge but he was one of the good guys and I had been a patient of his for years. Does he know this? He will need to have funds to cover any resulting issues and from what you say about his habits and the dentist, I would say that issues are very very likely. The dentist who did mine would not consider doing the procedure on smokers of any kind, he said it wasn't worth his reputation.

It'll be worse tha square one, there will need to be repair work which the NHS won't cover.

NHS will not fund implants.

I think my dads NHS choices were to have a motley mix of extractions, root canals, bridges, crowns etc which entailed a lot of stress and pain over many visits or a full clearance and dentures which he didn’t feel ready for. His dentist did NHS as well and they felt the full implants were his best option as long as he could afford it. He doesn’t smoke or drink heavily though.

Spending on a full set of functioning teeth is not going to be seen as deprivation of assets. Although he might have got it cheaper shopping around, the risk of trying that would be that the task becomes overwhelming and never happens. Far better to spend down the capital thus way than on upping his booze intake. Let him be.

And yet upthread a poster whose job it actually was to make decisions such as whether this would be seen as DOA has said it would be seen as such.

so he's an alcoholic and a smoker....good luck healing those implants...

I'm unable to comment on DWP aspect, but I'd really recommend having a second opinions. Full mouth of implants is a really invasive procedure and should not be attempted to be done in one go, it might need several years to do it safely.

They did for my nephew but he had missing teeth from childhood so maybe they have set criteria

If he's not on benefits then he can spend it on his teeth. It's kind of medically necessary to have functioning teeth.

It's really weird and mean of you to think he somehow doesn't deserve to have nice teeth when you admit it's not his fault they're not healthy.

I'd advise him to go to a couple more for quotes though. But otherwise I fail to see your issue.

It's a perfectly reasonable thing for one to spend their inheritance on.

I wouldn’t call implants ‘cosmetic’ for someone who has no teeth , and dentures really aren’t that great.

And £38k is not OTT price wise.

BUT the concerns about his general ability to look after his gums etc and doing a full set all at once are valid.

I think everybody is missing the main aspect of the original post.

Yes he can spend his inheritance on what he wants but he shouldn't expect to reclaim benefits once the inheritance has run out.

Yes the DWP would deem this as deprivation of capital and he would just have his higher rate PIP to live off.

I do want him to have nice teeth! But I also don't want him to be sitting in the cold and relying on food banks before eventually being evicted from his home because his money has run out and he's not entitled to any help.

Surely the dental practice should have made this clear, and perhaps realised he's vulnerable.

some will, some will not give a toss

They won’t do it if he smokes. The implants will likely fail.