Went for a checkup the other day and was told (at least in Scotland) that 6 months checkups are not a thing anymore – instead it’s one year. Madness. We’re working hard to get our “British have bad teeth” reputation back. That’ll show the Americans.
Apparently this think tank has no connection to Nuffield Health.
I recently left an NHS dentist in a house move. They always managed to fit me in quick with emergency appointments, which was great, but with respect to them – the work they did didn’t really seem very good. Feel much more comfortable at a modern private practice aside from the painful hit to my bank balance every time I need something done.
Had a checkup scheduled for April 2020. Was a good boy and cancelled, and didn’t book another one because of COVID. Stayed a good egg until 2022, when I decided it was probably fine to start going again. Got given an appointment about 3 months out. Thought that was strange, but fine. 3 days before the appointment, it got cancelled, with no reschedule until I call. Called up, had to wait another three months. Cancelled with days to go again. Did that pattern I think 3 times? Finally it’s early 2023, and I go to re-book. They tell me I’ve been kicked off their roll because I don’t attend frequently enough.
Now I actually have stuff wrong, and it’s getting worse. Could have been fixed years ago by simply repairing a filling. The nearest dentist taking NHS patients is a 130 mile drive away. I don’t have a car. The possibility of paying hundreds (maybe thousands?) for private care is a ludicrous joke.
Ultimately it just isn’t viable for many dentists to take on NHS patients. Once again a lack of investment, training, and support or any long term thinking has meant that what should be essential services are now luxuries.
Didnt even know we had one for check ups/cleaning. Thought we only subsidised some of the private costs.
The only time I remember going in for was to remove a ball/lump on the inside of my lip
It’s even worse than just the NHS dentistry going. I tried to sign up for a dentist after moving recently, small town about 30 minutes away from a major city, and I was invited to add myself to a waitlist to become a member of the dental practice. I’d have to pay a subscription fee in addition to any treatments, and they were already full!!!
And frankly, private dentists are not great either.
Firstly, I can’t get into one, they are full up doing teeth whitening and other cosmetic crap.
Then, when I do get an appointment, after the sales pitch is over and I finally get my teeth looked at, I get a quote for “work” in the thousands. Please, just pull the offending tooth, I can’t afford this work, but I cannot live with the pain either. I had to beg and plead. Then…they charged me a premium for the extraction, as they lost out on “other work”.
It’s bad.
GP need to realise that the vast majority (almost everything) to do with oral health is preventable and that if people brushed with fluoride twice a day for two minutes and cleaned between their teeth daily, with a minimal amount of snacking and sugar, their teeth wouldn’t need all the expensive treatment. Dental care is very cheap, it only gets expensive when you neglect them.
Let’s continue to pay our huge taxes so one-day we might see a dentist if we look at East.
I haven’t been able to see a dentist since 2019. I was taken off their books for no reason whatsoever. Yet they still advertise outside their business their an NHS dentist. When in reality I know a few people who went to the same surgery who were also taken off the books without any real reason.
It’s a disgrace! If dentists will only see paying customers, then the hospitals need to start offering dentist surgeries. Because oral hygiene is important and being financially able to pay for treatment shouldn’t dictate whether you’re seen or not.
I don’t blame dentists as I know NHS funding for them isn’t great. But something needs to be done.
I sorta think it’s time to start reevaluating what’s needed to get people training as doctors, nurses and dentists etc.
My neighbours are doctors and both suggested that the traditional AAA requirements for the courses may not always be needed. Rather they claim that if you have e.g. AAB you still have a decent chance of qualifying from the course.
Their claim is also that there are many people rejected from uni courses who would make good doctors.
It resonates with me cause I didnt do well at school due to all sorts of personal reasons but am now working in data science at a high level.
I dunno…just need more of everything these days it feels like.
Evidence suggests fewer check ups and no more polish and scale are the way to go.
Issue with all screening (which is what a check up is) is that low risk people are more likely to take it up. High risk groups will be offered more regular check ups than low risk, but it means many of us won’t see a dentist as often. No evidence polish and scale does much other than patient’s reporting ‘my teeth feel clean’.
And soon the whole NHS. But I’m sure we’re gonna blame immigrants rather than Tory MPs, right?
Dentists were always exempt from the NHS (along with GPs and pharmacies) as a result of them all lobbying and kicking up a massive stink during the foundation of the health system.
Ever noticed how those three are the only areas that are noticeably shitter than every other corner of the system? Privatisation has been a disaster for them from the start.
For context they said that on an inflation adjusted basis the funding has dropped by £525m over the last few YEARS (since 2014-15) and the PPE scandal with Michele Mone which the tories are battling is worth £300m in just ONE YEAR
If dentistry on the NHS disappeared then wouldn’t the cost of private come down? Albeit people who get it free on the NHS would be in trouble.
Firms buying up smaller private dentists to come under the umbrella of their group to slowly transition from NHS dentistry to private is a real problem.
My local dentist was vehemently against this and said the writing was on the wall years ago. Sadly he passed away and his old practice is now part of one of these groups.
Treatment has gone downhill, there is always an upsell and it’s a constant rotation of dentists.
I hate these articles…the solution is simple – you want a dental license, you need to have 50% of your books allocated to NHS patients.
There just isn’t the will in government (any party) to put strong measures like this in place.
18 comments
Went for a checkup the other day and was told (at least in Scotland) that 6 months checkups are not a thing anymore – instead it’s one year. Madness. We’re working hard to get our “British have bad teeth” reputation back. That’ll show the Americans.
Apparently this think tank has no connection to Nuffield Health.
I recently left an NHS dentist in a house move. They always managed to fit me in quick with emergency appointments, which was great, but with respect to them – the work they did didn’t really seem very good. Feel much more comfortable at a modern private practice aside from the painful hit to my bank balance every time I need something done.
Had a checkup scheduled for April 2020. Was a good boy and cancelled, and didn’t book another one because of COVID. Stayed a good egg until 2022, when I decided it was probably fine to start going again. Got given an appointment about 3 months out. Thought that was strange, but fine. 3 days before the appointment, it got cancelled, with no reschedule until I call. Called up, had to wait another three months. Cancelled with days to go again. Did that pattern I think 3 times? Finally it’s early 2023, and I go to re-book. They tell me I’ve been kicked off their roll because I don’t attend frequently enough.
Now I actually have stuff wrong, and it’s getting worse. Could have been fixed years ago by simply repairing a filling. The nearest dentist taking NHS patients is a 130 mile drive away. I don’t have a car. The possibility of paying hundreds (maybe thousands?) for private care is a ludicrous joke.
Ultimately it just isn’t viable for many dentists to take on NHS patients. Once again a lack of investment, training, and support or any long term thinking has meant that what should be essential services are now luxuries.
Didnt even know we had one for check ups/cleaning. Thought we only subsidised some of the private costs.
The only time I remember going in for was to remove a ball/lump on the inside of my lip
It’s even worse than just the NHS dentistry going. I tried to sign up for a dentist after moving recently, small town about 30 minutes away from a major city, and I was invited to add myself to a waitlist to become a member of the dental practice. I’d have to pay a subscription fee in addition to any treatments, and they were already full!!!
And frankly, private dentists are not great either.
Firstly, I can’t get into one, they are full up doing teeth whitening and other cosmetic crap.
Then, when I do get an appointment, after the sales pitch is over and I finally get my teeth looked at, I get a quote for “work” in the thousands. Please, just pull the offending tooth, I can’t afford this work, but I cannot live with the pain either. I had to beg and plead. Then…they charged me a premium for the extraction, as they lost out on “other work”.
It’s bad.
GP need to realise that the vast majority (almost everything) to do with oral health is preventable and that if people brushed with fluoride twice a day for two minutes and cleaned between their teeth daily, with a minimal amount of snacking and sugar, their teeth wouldn’t need all the expensive treatment. Dental care is very cheap, it only gets expensive when you neglect them.
Let’s continue to pay our huge taxes so one-day we might see a dentist if we look at East.
I haven’t been able to see a dentist since 2019. I was taken off their books for no reason whatsoever. Yet they still advertise outside their business their an NHS dentist. When in reality I know a few people who went to the same surgery who were also taken off the books without any real reason.
It’s a disgrace! If dentists will only see paying customers, then the hospitals need to start offering dentist surgeries. Because oral hygiene is important and being financially able to pay for treatment shouldn’t dictate whether you’re seen or not.
I don’t blame dentists as I know NHS funding for them isn’t great. But something needs to be done.
I sorta think it’s time to start reevaluating what’s needed to get people training as doctors, nurses and dentists etc.
My neighbours are doctors and both suggested that the traditional AAA requirements for the courses may not always be needed. Rather they claim that if you have e.g. AAB you still have a decent chance of qualifying from the course.
Their claim is also that there are many people rejected from uni courses who would make good doctors.
It resonates with me cause I didnt do well at school due to all sorts of personal reasons but am now working in data science at a high level.
I dunno…just need more of everything these days it feels like.
Evidence suggests fewer check ups and no more polish and scale are the way to go.
Issue with all screening (which is what a check up is) is that low risk people are more likely to take it up. High risk groups will be offered more regular check ups than low risk, but it means many of us won’t see a dentist as often. No evidence polish and scale does much other than patient’s reporting ‘my teeth feel clean’.
And soon the whole NHS. But I’m sure we’re gonna blame immigrants rather than Tory MPs, right?
Dentists were always exempt from the NHS (along with GPs and pharmacies) as a result of them all lobbying and kicking up a massive stink during the foundation of the health system.
Ever noticed how those three are the only areas that are noticeably shitter than every other corner of the system? Privatisation has been a disaster for them from the start.
For context they said that on an inflation adjusted basis the funding has dropped by £525m over the last few YEARS (since 2014-15) and the PPE scandal with Michele Mone which the tories are battling is worth £300m in just ONE YEAR
If dentistry on the NHS disappeared then wouldn’t the cost of private come down? Albeit people who get it free on the NHS would be in trouble.
Firms buying up smaller private dentists to come under the umbrella of their group to slowly transition from NHS dentistry to private is a real problem.
My local dentist was vehemently against this and said the writing was on the wall years ago. Sadly he passed away and his old practice is now part of one of these groups.
Treatment has gone downhill, there is always an upsell and it’s a constant rotation of dentists.
I hate these articles…the solution is simple – you want a dental license, you need to have 50% of your books allocated to NHS patients.
There just isn’t the will in government (any party) to put strong measures like this in place.