NHS Dentistry - some facts.

Hi all,

Due to health issues in last 15yrs I have had to be super careful with dentistry materials & have had to pay privately for a London specialist until they finally diagnosed what was wrong with me. Following that (& having spent £15,000 on teeth) I decided it was time the NHS started to pick up.

I’ve discovered NHS dentistry to be pretty murky waters, and as its something which most ppl don’t deal with more than a quick check once a year (when you can’t wait to get out again), everything is stays pretty murky - plus its very hard to know if what you’re being told is BS or not, or whether your treatment has been good.


So I thought I’d let everyone know at least what I’ve learnt:

(1) It is now unofficial policy that if you need root canal treatment for very back teeth (the ones in from wisdom teeth) & this is referred to a specialist (which it usually is as too difficult for general dentists), these are now extracted instead. I’ve had one London teaching specialist and 2 high street dentists confirm this, 'tho they are not telling patients. It’s general knowledge at NHS specialist level & the high street dentists are finding out not because they’ve been told this will happen but because their patients are coming back to them with their teeth pulled out instead of root canalled as requested. This is due to lack of funds/time & they say you don’t actually need those teeth..(!) . The NHS Dentistry principle has always been to save teeth, but not in this case it seems.

You can put in an appeal to your local area funding authority - I did & won. It took a long time to get to someone but this can be speeded up if you are in pain.

(2) Materials used.

If you are allergic/have bad reactions to materials being used in NHS dentistry you are entitled to be offered an alternative. And THERE IS NO LIMIT TO THE MATERIALS WHICH CAN BE USED. This was a surprise to me - I’m allergic to many metals but was always told I would have to pay privately if I needed (eg) metal free crowns. Please stand up for what you need - here’s extracts from correspondence from DOH & NHS

"The Department of Health response is correct in that, if your dentist deems it clinically necessary for you to have crowns, you will be provided with crowns, and, given your nickel allergy, you would be fitted with nickel-free posts on which to support these crowns under the NHS pricing structure.

You would not be expected to accept treatment that would be detrimental to your health and if this is documented, there would be no reason for your dentist to insist you accept them."

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"NHS dental services can meet all clinical needs. There are no restrictions on the use of materials and it is up to the dentist to advise an NHS patient on the most appropriate materials for a particular restoration, for all treatments that are clinically necessary. Dentists may suggest that any part of the patient’s treatment may be provided privately, but they should first explain the patient’s NHS treatment options."

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"White fillings are available on the NHS where clinically appropriate."
http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNH...reatments.aspx

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(3) Seeing a dentist at more than one practise even mid-treatment. Yes you can.

With regard to seeing more than one NHS dentist at the same time, (which I had to at one point as had to wait a month for appts with the guy I’d signed up with - something I should have asked about before I signed up)

"It is entirely up to you as to which Dentist you choose to see. However, you may find it problematic if you start one course of treatment at one practice and then continue with it at another practice, it is possible you could be charged twice. Also, to consider is that it's possible that the dentist(s) would not wish to cover each other’s treatments. If you had to go to the other dentist for emergency treatment then there isn’t a problem.“

Note: when I changed mid-treatment I had no probs and ended up staying with that new dentist - yaay!
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(4) Some dentists are into something called ‘gaming’ - google it. It’s where they take advantage of the NHS payment system to suit themselves not their patients.
Therefore go get a 2nd opinion if you feel you are in any doubt about your treatment, you are entitled to a 2nd opinion tho you’ll have to pay for it, standard NHS rates.

(5) Choosing the right dentist in the first place. Look at reviews on the NHS dentistry site. If your local area is signed up to Streetlife, https://www.streetlife.com
you can get the current opinions of neighbours for miles around.

Don’t commit to a practise until you’ve met the dentist you’ll be dealing with & you have a feeling for that individual & the practise. As long as you do not have an urgent need for one you can scout around.
Make a list of what you expect from them &
go in for a one-off first, a quick check for a 'problem’ tooth/ a question about the kind of treatments they do..something like that & take your list of questions.

I had to leave one practise because one of the dentists was terrible , but others that I saw occasionally in same practise seemed fine. However you can't change dentist within a practise - you are stuck if you've landed a bad one . I've no idea why as you can change GPs any time you go to the same practise. I've talked to NHS Direct about this and they said dentists run a practise as a private enterprise effectively doing as they like with it, so you'll just have to change practise. But actually GPs run their surgeries under the same quasi-private contract so that really was not an answer.

An afterthought - ask your dentist if they feel they're getting a rough deal thru the payment system - cos if they are & its causing some dodgy behaviour - maybe we can help change that...

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

Very grateful for your post Jodie - I have not been back to my dentist as the treatment was terrible, the final straw was when she removed a perfectly good gold filling and replaced it with the usual. I was very upset and haven't been back there .......

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

Some thing to add to this is in the NHS they use the cheapest dentures possible, they break alarmingly regularly and are often not fitted right. Seek a dental laboratory who make dentures and they will give you choices of materials and much better fitting at a lesser cost we found.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

I agree dental labs are worth looking at. Dentures will be my next challenge & my local dental lab saw me for a free appointment, answered all my questions & gave me some materials to test ( I have try everything for allergic reactions). They will make any moulds needed & my guy was about 1/3 cheaper than the dentist. But because he wasn't a dentist what he couldn't do was tell you which dentures would be best for your mouth.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

I wonder how to get around that one ?

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

We found a private dentist really didn't cost much more than NHS one for consultation and they were very good at recommending right denture.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

If you already have dentures & just need them replaced or mended it should be straightforward. If you don't you could get yr dentist to say what they think you should have, then get a lab to make it up, tho you risk annoying your dentist I guess. I'm a tricky patient & it's taken a while to find a dentist I really like, so first up I will get him to do the whole thing I think - thereafter I'd probably go to a lab.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

I am not bothered about having a tooth out myself. I needed a root
canal the other year and told them to pull it.
Patsy I hope you asked for the gold filling back as you paid for it
so its yours otherwise as far as I know the dentist sells it for the gold.
I didn't know that in the 1970's so missed out on some cash.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

The reason I didn't choose that option (I have me teeth, no dentures - yet) was because I'm looking for a new dentist at present, wouldn't trust a word of my previous one, so its not a bad idea to get them done as and when, then go to the lab.

Re: NHS Dentistry - some facts.

Unfortunately I didn't.
I didn't even realise till I got home that it was the good tooth ! Then I was in such shock about it I just wanted never to see her again - and I haven't