NHS Dentists

[Ivor]

I have had an NHS dentist since young & believe me I was a kid so long ago I vaguely remember the time

So about 8 years ago after moving out of London I immediately found another NHS dentist, second appointment six months later I turned up & he had closed down with no notification.

Signed up with another about three years ago after hunting around then a year ago got an email saying he was going private only.

Wasn’t a fan of his service anyway & after calling dentists in the catchment area not one was taking new NHS patients.

With great reluctance I signed up with a private practice who are good but the rates are eye watering for any ‘work’

I pay them a monthly contract fee for two check ups a year & two hygienist visits included but of course fillings, root canal etc are not included.

I recently had treatment over £400 & was wondering how many of us here have been pushed in the direction of private practice?

 

[Mojo]

I don’t bother with NHS dentist. It’s just as cheap to go private. NHS dentist wanted to see me every 6 months at £23.80 a pop. Private dentist is £40 a visit and both ones I’ve used are happy for an annual inspection, plus X-Rays at £8, every other year.

Last time I was NHS they barely looked in my mouth, my partner had pain and they said just to gargle Corsodyl, whereas private dentist was a thorough examination.

 

[alxndr]

Last year my partner broke a tooth. They weren't registered for a dentist nearby as they'd moved in very suddenly and we weren't sure if it was going to be a couple of weeks/months/indefinitely. We tried calling the emergency dentist, which was just an answerphone that claimed they'd call back, but if you'd not heard back by the next day to leave another message. It took a week to get any response. During that week we tried calling every other dentist within a 2 mile radius, first trying the NHS ones and then private ones too. Eventually the emergency dentist got back in touch and pulled the tooth out. That almost made things worse—it was still bleeding 12 hours later. Because there was no direct line to the emergency dentist the only option was 111, who just told us to go to A&E, and A&E said they didn't deal with dental issues. After three phonecalls we managed to convince A&E to administer adrenaline to stop the bleeding.

The issues didn't stop there as the cavity then got infected, possibly due to there being quite a lot of bits of root left behind. Fortunately we managed to get a private appointment to handle that, although the dentist was reticent to touch it as they'd not extracted the original tooth and couldn't believe that we had no notes or method of contact for the emergency dentist. We did manage to get a response from a written letter, which was essentially worthless as it claimed the bleeding had ceased prior to leaving and that very much wasn't the case!

Need to try to find a dentist again now that we've moved.

 

[david1212]

Back 12 if not more years ago the surgery I had been registered with all my life went private only. I stuck with them for a while but then the dentist I saw retired. I found a practice in a nearby town was accepting new NHS patients onto a waiting list. As I was due a checkup I had that privately but before the next checkup was due I had reached the top of the NHS list. I saw the first dentist I think twice then was changed to a second and am now seeing a third.

The NHS checkups have not seemed significantly quicker than the private ones but the latter were under 15 minutes for a look around and a quick clean.

 

[Ivor]

Last time I was NHS they barely looked in my mouth, my partner had pain and they said just to gargle Corsodyl, whereas private dentist was a thorough examination.

Yep previous NHS dentist I had I was in & out on a check up in nigh on 5 minutes.

Need to try to find a dentist again now that we've moved.

Hopefully that has got easier but I have my doubts

The NHS checkups have not seemed significantly quicker than the private ones but the latter were under 15 minutes for a look around and a quick clean.

Something else even NHS dentists seemed to not include unless asked was a clean & they started to up sell hygienists.