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Dentists

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neversay
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Dentists

#205080

Postby neversay » March 2nd, 2019, 4:44 pm

Just wondering what others pay for their basic dental fees these days?

Mine are raising their fees to £17 a month for two (2-minute) check-ups, two hygienist visits a year plus the usual 'dental plan' advantages like insurance and discounted treatments. I appreciate that dentists need to make a living, but I'm in my 40s and never had a filling or any dental problems - so wondering how it's crept up to £204 a year for 1 hour of dentistry. As a family, we're now paying £400+ a year. Is this reasonable or should I be looking at ways to bring this down? (like Simplyhealth cover?)

redsturgeon
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Re: Dentists

#205098

Postby redsturgeon » March 2nd, 2019, 6:57 pm

Why not just go to an NHS dentist and pay the NHS fee twice a year, £21.60.

John

neversay
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Re: Dentists

#205101

Postby neversay » March 2nd, 2019, 7:11 pm

redsturgeon wrote:Why not just go to an NHS dentist and pay the NHS fee twice a year, £21.60.

John


That's a fair question! NHS dentists are a bit thin on the ground in this area. I was a patient of one a few years ago but got allocated an eastern European dentist who was unbelievably rough, which totally put me off (and made me seriously wonder if he was even qualified). When I went private the fees were only £10 a month so at the time it seemed worth paying for a better quality service.

Dod101
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Re: Dentists

#205112

Postby Dod101 » March 2nd, 2019, 9:12 pm

I go once a year to a dentist and twice a year to a dental hygienist and have not had a filling for many years. I am a PAYG patient and I pay more or less the same £200 I guess. I think the hygienist is £65 a time (for about half an hour each time) and to add on the dentist check up I think it is increased to around £100, so maybe only £165 pa. To me well worth it for the lack of hassle.

Dod

scotia
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Re: Dentists

#205120

Postby scotia » March 2nd, 2019, 10:10 pm

redsturgeon wrote:Why not just go to an NHS dentist and pay the NHS fee twice a year, £21.60.
John

That's what my wife and myself do, and the care has been excellent. Maybe we are lucky?
If I was forced to go private, I would settle for pay-as-you go - since I can't see the point in paying an extra middle-man (the insurer), unless I had particularly bad teeth, and the insurance was flat rate for all customers!

Redmires
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Re: Dentists

#205122

Postby Redmires » March 2nd, 2019, 10:39 pm

We have excellent NHS dentists* and last month I needed a crown fitted for about £230 all in. I dread to think what it would have cost private.

* So good that when we moved 200 miles away a couple of years ago we asked them if it was ok to stay on their books. No problem for them at all. We have family back there so coincide dental check-ups with family visits etc.

tjh290633
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Re: Dentists

#205130

Postby tjh290633 » March 2nd, 2019, 10:54 pm

Mine charges about £45 for an inspection and his hygienist is £53. Excellent service and his work stays done. As a retired dentist friend said, I shall stick with him. He is the third owner of that practice and it has got progressively better over the last 50 years.

TJH

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Re: Dentists

#205134

Postby Lootman » March 2nd, 2019, 11:36 pm

tjh290633 wrote:He is the third owner of that practice and it has got progressively better over the last 50 years.

Any dentist who had not improved in 50 years would still be using cable drills and laughing gas.

I've gone private for 30 years and pay whatever it takes. Teeth, like eyes, are too important to be cheap with.

scotia
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Re: Dentists

#205135

Postby scotia » March 2nd, 2019, 11:44 pm

Lootman wrote:I've gone private for 30 years and pay whatever it takes. Teeth, like eyes, are too important to be cheap with.

But have you any evidence to suggest that paying more for private dentistry gets you a better dentist? Or are you simply enhancing the life style of your chosen dentist?

vrdiver
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Re: Dentists

#205137

Postby vrdiver » March 3rd, 2019, 12:21 am

Mrs VRD has stayed with the same dentist since childhood. As a private patient, she sees little change from £1,000 a year, whereas I, who have a childhood fear (justified) of dentists, go to the local NHS practice and pay <£100 a year for 6-monthly checkups and the occasional bit of work.

I think the key is to find a dentist you're happy with; the cost is secondary. My current dentist manages to keep me in the chair, reasonably relaxed, considering, and I, in turn, no longer bite...

VRD

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Re: Dentists

#205173

Postby BusyBumbleBee » March 3rd, 2019, 11:11 am

vrdiver wrote:... My current dentist manages to keep me in the chair, reasonably relaxed, considering, and I, in turn, no longer bite... VRD

No teeth left? :roll: Why go to the dentist at all?

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Re: Dentists

#205189

Postby jackdaww » March 3rd, 2019, 12:40 pm

find a good private dentist and pay.

insurance schemes involve charges and commisions.

:D :D :D

Lootman
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Re: Dentists

#205237

Postby Lootman » March 3rd, 2019, 6:24 pm

scotia wrote:
Lootman wrote:I've gone private for 30 years and pay whatever it takes. Teeth, like eyes, are too important to be cheap with.

But have you any evidence to suggest that paying more for private dentistry gets you a better dentist? Or are you simply enhancing the life style of your chosen dentist?

If you're asking me for a double-blind test that proves my point, then no. Although I'd be surprised if the cheapest dentists were the best for the same reason that better products and services generally cost more in every field of endeavour.

But what I do know is that NHS dentists are limited in the types of treatment that they can offer. So for instance if you want a gold crown, or a metal-free implant, or a gum graft, then you're probably not going to be able to find that on the NHS. Private dentists are also easier to find and schedule, and may have equipment that the NHS doesn't fund.

I'm naturally frugal but will always spend money on certain things, and healthcare is one of them. I have barely used the NHS in 30 years for anything.

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Re: Dentists

#205254

Postby redsturgeon » March 3rd, 2019, 8:23 pm

From the OP

I'm in my 40s and never had a filling or any dental problems


I think we can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that gum grafts and gold crowns are not his main concern. My advice was that he should just pay an NHS dentist to do his routine exam in the future and if anything needs doing then he always has the option to get it done privately.

John

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Re: Dentists

#205264

Postby Lootman » March 3rd, 2019, 9:26 pm

redsturgeon wrote:From the OP

I'm in my 40s and never had a filling or any dental problems

I think we can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that gum grafts and gold crowns are not his main concern. My advice was that he should just pay an NHS dentist to do his routine exam in the future and if anything needs doing then he always has the option to get it done privately.

Perhaps. But then just because someone has never had a filling and doesn't have toothache, that does not mean that they enjoy perfect oral health and can scimp on care. Surely the reason one sees a dentist for an exam is that this isn't something you can self-diagnose. It would be great if we could all self-diagnose gum disease, root exposure or mandibular misalignment but we cannot.

So the real question is not whether you can take your dental health for granted if you show no obvious symptoms. But rather what kind of dentist has the time, inclination and facilities to do a proper evaluation, and take a long-term view of your mouth. Personally I want to know if there is any chance of losing a tooth in ten years time. But NHS dentistry may, because of constraints, funding limitations and excess demand, not be able to do that.

If my NHS dentist is seeing a few dozen patients every day, because everyone loves free stuff, then does he or she have the time to do a full exam and then explain my prognosis and discuss treatment options? Will he/she even discuss treatment options that cannot be offered in-house?

Now to be fair, my experiences of NHS dentistry are from about 1965 to 1985, when it was dire. I feel sure it is much better now. But even so, unless you are lucky enough to be in a part of the country where NHS dentistry is still the norm, can you be certain that your NHS dentist will take as long as it takes and answer all your questions, to ensure you are fully informed about care decisions? Or is he looking at his watch because there are a dozen people in the waiting room?

Someone mentioned having dental cleanings above, and said they take 30 minutes, twice a year. Mine take an hour and I go 4 times a year. Again, the NHS would not do that.

scotia
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Re: Dentists

#205273

Postby scotia » March 3rd, 2019, 10:27 pm

One advantage of an NHS dentist is that they carry out a range of procedures that are known to be good for dental health. However a private dentist is not so constrained, and may recommend expensive cosmetic dentistry which has little or no merit from the point of view of dental health. I believe that in the USA this has run riot, with expensive cosmetic dentistry the norm. And a survey a few years ago indicated that there were more missing teeth in the USA than in the UK. Lots of bright white smiles - but were they from porcelain? I prefer (in my mid seventies) using my own teeth.

redsturgeon
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Re: Dentists

#205274

Postby redsturgeon » March 3rd, 2019, 10:28 pm

Lootman wrote:
redsturgeon wrote:From the OP

I'm in my 40s and never had a filling or any dental problems

I think we can say with a reasonable degree of confidence that gum grafts and gold crowns are not his main concern. My advice was that he should just pay an NHS dentist to do his routine exam in the future and if anything needs doing then he always has the option to get it done privately.

Perhaps. But then just because someone has never had a filling and doesn't have toothache, that does not mean that they enjoy perfect oral health and can scimp on care. Surely the reason one sees a dentist for an exam is that this isn't something you can self-diagnose. It would be great if we could all self-diagnose gum disease, root exposure or mandibular misalignment but we cannot.

So the real question is not whether you can take your dental health for granted if you show no obvious symptoms. But rather what kind of dentist has the time, inclination and facilities to do a proper evaluation, and take a long-term view of your mouth. Personally I want to know if there is any chance of losing a tooth in ten years time. But NHS dentistry may, because of constraints, funding limitations and excess demand, not be able to do that.

If my NHS dentist is seeing a few dozen patients every day, because everyone loves free stuff, then does he or she have the time to do a full exam and then explain my prognosis and discuss treatment options? Will he/she even discuss treatment options that cannot be offered in-house?

Now to be fair, my experiences of NHS dentistry are from about 1965 to 1985, when it was dire. I feel sure it is much better now. But even so, unless you are lucky enough to be in a part of the country where NHS dentistry is still the norm, can you be certain that your NHS dentist will take as long as it takes and answer all your questions, to ensure you are fully informed about care decisions? Or is he looking at his watch because there are a dozen people in the waiting room?

Someone mentioned having dental cleanings above, and said they take 30 minutes, twice a year. Mine take an hour and I go 4 times a year. Again, the NHS would not do that.


I had a very good friend who was a dentist, back in the 80s, he was a very good dentist, more than 90% of his work was on the NHS. He fixed my teeth then, for nearly forty years I never had any other work done. he was probably the best dentist I ever knew. When I joined a major FTSE company in the late 80s I had free dental care, they had a dentist on the premises. They majored on periodontal care. I used to have an hour hygienist session every 6 months.

When I retired the same dentist happened to move to a private practice in my town. My wife and I used them for ten years. They were the most exclusive dentists in the town, they charged more than the highest London prices. They were always spotting little things that needed doing with my wife's teeth, a filling here, a crown there, a few hundred here and couple of thousand there, all the latest expensive treatments and equipment.. Along with those hour long hygienist appts of course.

After a bad customer service experience with them, I left and went to a nearer NHS dentist who I knew personally, they were great, they do 30 minute hygienist appts which are fine, much of the hour long ones are a waste of time for the average person. My wife has now moved over too and was very happy with the routine stuff and was given a much better treatment plan for some work that the other dentist had suggested. She has her treatment done privately if it is not available on the NHS.

I was involved in dentistry through my friend and through my work for several years and have met and worked with many dentists. Trust me when I tell you that if you need a hygienist to clean your teeth four times a year for an hour each time then your oral health is not good. The OP clearly has good oral hygiene and should find the services of the average NHS dentist every bit as good for his needs as a private one. Your needs may be different however and I would not suggest that route for yourself. If you are happy with the service you are getting then that is fine.

John

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Re: Dentists

#205280

Postby James » March 3rd, 2019, 11:14 pm

scotia wrote:One advantage of an NHS dentist is that they carry out a range of procedures that are known to be good for dental health. However a private dentist is not so constrained, and may recommend expensive cosmetic dentistry which has little or no merit from the point of view of dental health. I believe that in the USA this has run riot, with expensive cosmetic dentistry the norm. And a survey a few years ago indicated that there were more missing teeth in the USA than in the UK. Lots of bright white smiles - but were they from porcelain? I prefer (in my mid seventies) using my own teeth.


I find quite the opposite to be true. I stopped going to an NHS dentist for many reasons, but one of them was that I got sick of being upsold all the non-NHS treatments they do to make the money they need to make up for the poor NHS funding.
When I went private, I made it clear I just wanted to try and keep the teeth I have remaining and wasn't interested in cosmetics. As I'm a customer as well as a patient, they have been very good at sticking to my request.

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Re: Dentists

#205286

Postby scotia » March 4th, 2019, 12:20 am

James wrote:I got sick of being upsold all the non-NHS treatments they do to make the money they need to make up for the poor NHS funding. When I went private, I made it clear I just wanted to try and keep the teeth I have remaining and wasn't interested in cosmetics. As I'm a customer as well as a patient, they have been very good at sticking to my request.

We (myself and my wife) have experienced no such problems with our NHS dentist - so it appears either we have been lucky, or you have been unlucky.

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Re: Dentists

#205302

Postby Mike88 » March 4th, 2019, 8:25 am

I use an NHS (Polish) dentist and receive an exemplary service. The dentist does his own hygienist treatments. The original posters reservations about eastern european dentists certainly do not apply in my case. I have had 2 fillings in 10 years and one extraction all done very professionally. As for being upsold treatments just refuse or make it clear from the outset that you just want the standard treatments.


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