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NHS Dentists
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/aug/21/health
Any comments? I now when I needed root canal work done in January finding a dentist willing to do it on the NHS was impossible.
Any comments? I now when I needed root canal work done in January finding a dentist willing to do it on the NHS was impossible.
0
Comments
http://www.nhs.uk/servicedirectories/Pages/ServiceSearch.aspx
Best,
Poppi
I went to the dental hospital to have a check up in Sheffield. It was by medical students, but they weren't allowed to touch my mouth without a supervisor present. And their supervisors go over everything and are experts in their fields.
To those who can't find an NHS Dentist, if you ring up your PCT or NHS direct who can put you in touch with them, then I believe they are obliged to find you one. If you're getting NHS normal hours treatment for toothache then they *should* complete the course of treatment and stop seeing you when your mouth is in a reasonable state.
Yeah that pisses me off too. Even paying for a fucking check up. The whole point of the NHS is that no-one should have to struggle to pay for dental treatment, but £40 for a filling isn't cheap and it costs more for other treatments! £40 is my week's non-essential spending budget. I pay my taxes so why the hell should I have to pay for NHS treatment as well?
I don't like the way the system works either - if you need a filling done and then you need another one a month later then you pay twice. Byt if you need them done at the same time then you only pay once. It doesn't make any sense. Mind it worked well for my boyfriend, he didn't go to the dentist for 6 years and ended up needing 8 fillings. He's now having them done and only paying the once - saved himself a small fortune!
The whole point of the NHS is that decent health care isn't the preserve of those who can afford it. The NHS should be free at the point of access. If there isn't enough money then tax more. The argument "you pay less than it costs" doesn't hold water, because a) i've already paid the taxes and b) i shouldn't have to pay at all. I would pay nothing for a triple heart bypass, which is considerably less than it costs.
Exactly. If you look here http://www.nhs.uk/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/DentistsSummary.aspx
The maximum amount you can pay for NHS dental treatment is £198. A lot of people would find that difficult to pay, and some would find it impossible. Therefore dental heathcare is not accessible to all, therefore the NHS has failed
I suppose their arguement would like somewhere between those on low income/certain benefits don't pay much like prescriptions and that it's non essential dental work.
In the short-medium term I'd far rather see far better avaliablity of fixed price dental treatment courses on the NHS than the current rubbish avaliablity (or even worse) free for everyone in theory but in reality hardly accessible by anyone.
Interesting side note, in most areas it's easier to find an NHS dentist if you fall into one of the exempt from charges categories.
Most areas it also gives a phone number under the details for those who are having problems finding an NHS Dentist in their area, as the PCT are obliged to help.
You won't find one to 'take you onto their books' because that's not the way NHS Dentistry works since the new contract, you are only their patient for as long as your course of treatment lasts, but they should find you an appointment.
An option, which I realise defeats the point of the NHS but on an individual level is worth looking at for some people, is to get in touch with some of the practises listed and find out what a standard routine check up costs. Some practises do ones that don't cost much more than an NHS one (~£16), and depending on your budget if you happen to find a reasonably priced one it's probably worth it vs needing lots of work further down the line.
Some of what you just said is kinda inaccurate and misleading...
prescription charges for example - I've bought the same exact medicines in Asia as you get charge £7.10p on the NHS for as little as 1/60th the cost of the NHS price.
I've bought the very same medicines made in the UK far cheaper abroad then I have in the UK
If you have actual facts and figures to back up you claim then all good - but you shouldn't speak as if what you say is the actual be all and end all.
The NHS doesn't cost a lot to run because it's expensive it wastes a lot of money - it's the 3rd largest employer on the planet
They cancel over 100,000 operations a year because they're so badly managed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2591238/NHS-cancels-more-than-100000-operations-in-a-year.html
They spend over £500 with Microsoft
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/03/nhs_picks_ms/
http://burningourmoney.blogspot.com/2006/02/update-on-nhs-waste.html
For most drugs on prescription the £7.10 ISN'T a contribution as you put it - it's paying way over the odds of what it costs to make and far more then you have to pay in a lot of other countries for the same medicine.
in Wales all prescriptions are free and from 2011 all in Scotland will also be free
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7488503.stm
The money charged for prescriptions has nothing to do with the cost of the drug - it's there to raise money - which is does .. raises over £400 million a year - but you are wrong in saying it's good value for the cost of the drug.
Good value would be instead of charging 12% of the population that need a prescription £7.10 - charging 100% of them 86p - I think if a parent has a sick child they're able to afford 86p for medicine - I don't see why people that work and pay taxes and are sick should fork out £7.10 for drugs you can by abroad for 15p
Though rather than go into a rant about it, I should probably be grateful that I got an appointment...
To think that Americans, of all people, are now able to take the piss out of our healthcare in this country. It defies belief.
I haven't had an NHS dentist now since about 2006. The one we had decided to go private and we were left with nowhere to turn. The Government forever boasts that it's churning out more and more new dentists, claiming that it was the "last Conservative government" that is to blame for all this. After 11 years, that excuse is looking decidely hollow. Myself, I've had no choice but to go private as well. I pay a certain amount each year - I can't be arsed, at 2am, digging out the letter which states the price - to go and listen to some wanker in a white coat telling me that I need this and that done to my teeth, at the cost of a few hundred pounds, asking if I'd like to pay him in cash right then. All I wanna do in that situation is knock out a few of the dentist's own teeth.
Dentists on the NHS? Don't make me laugh.
British and their teeth have been a steryotype for as long as dentists have existed. It is hardly a new phenomenon.
And healthcare and dental care are completly different things. Taking the "piss" out of your healthcare, no... dental, not taking the "piss" out of, but to believe that it is on such an opposite scale of your healtcare is really astonishing.
Hugh Laurie did the voice. :thumb:
I agree with Simba. The British teeth stereotype has been around for decades, and it's really anything to do with the current state of British dentistry. Probably more down to the fact that most Brits don't bother with the sort of cosmetic work that all American kids seem to have.
I have private dental care too. It's about £20 a month, and you get a 6-monthly checkup, scale and polish, an annual X-ray, and any treatment included in that cost. I don't know why you need an x-ray, but there you go.
It meant that, for a couple of years as a teenager, I had one space in the back of my mouth where I had no tooth. The only plus side is my wisdom tooth has since filled that space.
How do you get such an insurance?
I think it's this one. I think you can upgrade it to cover certain more expensive treatments. I don't know exactly what I've got though, because it's a family thing, so my mum sorts it all out. Cheaper that way.
Namaste, if they are properly conforming to the new contract then the cost to you should be the same whether it's one filling or five.