You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Hope someone can help here. My wife and I are with a private dental surgery (members of Denplan) however our two daughters are not members – we have just paid for annual check-ups until now. However, they are both now teenagers and both have overcrowding that needs correction. For some time the dentist has said to leave them to settle down before doing anything and that time was about two years ago. Unfortunately, they were meant to have referred them both to have assessments to see if they qualified for the treatment to be done on the NHS but it has just transpired that they didn't do this, there is a three-year waiting list and we are at the back of that queue.
Apart from the fact we are all very annoyed about this, is there any way of speeding the process up/another way of getting the work done (initial estimates are of around £6-£10k worth of work needing doing between the two of them if we were to go private and that would pretty much wipe out all of our savings).
We went through similar with our two - both now out the other end.
We have a private dentist as we couldn't get NHS when we mved to this area, he is expensive but excellent.
Our eldest had a wait of about two years to get braces after we were initially referred to the local NHS service. We have never encountered such arrogance and rudeness from a medical professional. She wanted to remove teeth rather than spend the time to do the job properly, our own dentist explained to us in graphic detail about the long term issues that would cause and that it was an entirely unnecessary procedure. It was basically 'production line' dentistry. He actually ended up calling her himself to explain why her methods were out of date - she hung up!
Anyway, the orthodentist in his private practice took pity and added us to her list (out of area, but worth the travel, even if we did have to wait). Daughter has perfect set of teeth and none were removed.
We wanted the same for youngest but the waiting list had grown to >2.5 years so we went private with this same dentist. Nicer waiting room, closer to us but about £3k. Faced with the local butcher or paying the £3k, it was quite a simple choice, tho recognise it may not be doable for many families.
Sorry, turned into more of a rant than help but I think this will become very common, which only adds pressure to the NHS later...
There are some private ‘light’ options around I think that might be slightly cheaper. “Mydentist” is one but likely others.
Not really sure what the light bit means, it might just be they do cheaper check ups only.
Users of private medical care find queue for NHS...
Let me just get my tiny violin.
APF
Users of private medical care find queue for NHS…
However, if you read my post properly...
Users of private medical care find queue for NHS…
You've clearly not tried getting registered with an NHS dentist. Either that or your area isn't having the same problems as the rest of the country.
And if they're not, let us know where you live and we can all see if its closer than the 200 miles I have to travel to get to my previously registered NHS dentist.
You’ve clearly not tried getting registered with an NHS dentist.
Yep, I was with one and he kicked me off and went private, stopped doing any NHS work.
I think the reality of UK dentistry now is that is you need anything other than emergency care, then paying is the only option.
i was registered with an NHS practice but they were so hopeless (mydentist takeover..) I went private.
She wanted to remove teeth rather than spend the time to do the job properly, our own dentist explained to us in graphic detail about the long term issues that would cause and that it was an entirely unnecessary procedure.
Hi. I'm here from that procedure in the 1970s and have holes in my face where teeth should be.
Yep, I was with one and he kicked me off and went private, stopped doing any NHS work.
Hi. I'm here from...
I was with the same dentist my entire life. I was late for an appointment a couple of years ago and they used it as an excuse to strike me off, then covid lockdown happened before I could complain. That was following them being taken over by "My Dentist."
I think the reality of UK dentistry now is that is you need anything other than emergency care, then paying is the only option.
The frustrating thing is that the initial assessments (for which we paid) were meant to lead to our girls being placed on the waiting list for NHS assessments but they didn't do the one thing that they said they would do and we're now at the back of a very long queue and we can't really expect our girls to wait until they are nearly 17 to start the work. By the time it's done almost all of their teenage years will have been with wonky teeth and they are now at an age where it's beginning to bother them – we should have been almost at the front of the queue by now and ready to start 🙁
You live in Harrogate right? Might be worth contacting the Dental Institute in Leeds, next door to LGI and see if they can help? I had a lot of work done their in the past when I was not registered with a dentist and my son has recently been referred there as well.
^ Yeah I did wonder about that route. Not sure my wife would be convinced about having students work on our girls' teeth though.
we have just paid for annual check-ups until now
Have you 'shopped' around ? Our son gets his routine checks and minor dental treatment for 'free' at our private dentist because we are registered.
However private dental rates can vary massively as can the quality of the treatment though unfortunately.
Its impossible to get an NHS dentist where we live.
Have you ‘shopped’ around ? Our son gets his routine checks and minor dental treatment for ‘free’ at our private dentist because we are registered.
They did do it for free for a while but at some point, they started charging (I think it might have been when they hit 10 years old).
i moved in 1996 and tried to get on the list for a localish NHS dentist, the nearest one who would even put me on the waiting list was a 10 mile drive (i didn't have a car either). I got a call back about 18 months after i'd moved, 5 years later.
That made me quite excited as i hadn't seen a dentist in about 8 or 9 years at this point and i'd put myself on the list for another, new, local dentist. Who i thought was the one calling me. It wasn't.
The new one emailed me in about 2007/8 (me having contacted them in 2002/3) to offer an appointment which i could either take (no rescheduling) or go to the back of the queue, which was my wake up call to get registered in sweden.
Which took about 6 weeks. Thankfully, despite having not seen a dentist in well over a decade, my teeth were fine.
I changed dentist when kids started arriving (as the kids get assigned to a dentist automatically) that took a couple of weeks and one phone call.
^ Yeah I did wonder about that route. Not sure my wife would be convinced about having students work on our girls’ teeth though.
My take on that is that although students won't have the experience, they may be the most up to date in treatment approaches than experienced dentists. I certainly had no issues with the new (not student, admittedly) dentists I was assigned to at my local NHS practice. It was a different newly-qualified dentist fresh out of dentist school each time I visited. No complaints.
Even after settling in our current locale 20+ years ago I continued with my childhood dentist for a while despite the 80-mile round trip for it. Getting an NHS one where I am now took some time.
The fact that you are registered at a private practice makes no difference in this instance.
you don't really have many options i'm afraid. most of the dental school/ hospital orthodontic services will only accept "difficult" cases and they will likely have a similar waiting list.
realistically, you will either need to pay privately. if you shop around, you might find that some practices offer a cheaper price for under 18's. If you pay for a private assessment at the NHS ortho provider and your girls qualify, the orthodontist might offer the treatment under the NHS but it depends on whether they are a nice person or not.
alternatively (& i would suggest this first) you ask the practice to refer you now for nhs assessment and also ask them ( as it was their fault not yours the referral was not done ) to speak to the ortho practice and see if they will bump you up the queue. you might (nicely) approach the ortho practice yourself as well.
Depending on how nice the ortho practice are they might help you out. That's what happens around here but it depends on how friendly everyone is in your area.
The fact that you are registered at a private practice makes no difference in this instance.
I guess not, however I added the background information as we paid them to do check-ups and advise on the best course of action for our girls and they didn't do the one thing they were meant to have done two years ago 🙁
alternatively (& i would suggest this first) you ask the practice to refer you now for nhs assessment and also ask them ( as it was their fault not yours the referral was not done ) to speak to the ortho practice and see if they will bump you up the queue. you might (nicely) approach the ortho practice yourself as well.
Yeah we did this straight away today when we found out what happened and are waiting for a call back. I posted on here to see if anyone had any ideas/experience of getting things moving more quickly that wouldn't involve a huge sum of money.
^ Yeah I did wonder about that route. Not sure my wife would be convinced about having students work on our girls’ teeth though.
Honestly, I wouldn't worry as anything difficult only gets done by final year students, overseen by a fully qualified dentist with access to the most modern kit (or at least that was the case) and fully up to date with the latest techniques.
Our NHS dentist recommended we took our son as he has a heart condition and the dentist though Leeds better equipped to deal with it.
Hah! Funny how this post has just resurfaced (I am the OP). We ended up going private for one daughter as her teeth were *really* bad shortly after my OP and she has just (as in four days ago) had her braces removed. And just last week we received the referral letter from the NHS for our other daughter – hers were nowhere near as bad and she wasn't really bothered about having the work done but we decided to stay on the waiting list so we weren't caught out again.
Funny how this post has just resurfaced
To the day. It took me a minute to realise the year had changed.
That is wierd
Users of private medical care find queue for NHS...
Let me just get my tiny violin.
APF
Not sure if APF realizes there are very few NHS dentists, the ones you see on the NHS are private companies being paid very little by the NHS to do NHS work, which is why so many no longer bother. NHS dentistry is a basket case. Mine won't even offer a root canal on the NHS as the payment isn't enough to cover their costs. It's filings or extractions only.
^ Yeah I did wonder about that route. Not sure my wife would be convinced about having students work on our girls’ teeth though.
The emergency appointments I've had have bene with dentists young enough that I'd have questioned whether they needed parental consent slips to be on work experience. Both were great. Based on personal experience I'd be more worried about the mid-career ones still working on NHS patients.
There's similar sayings in most industries but there's a difference between 20 years experience and one years experience repeated 20 times. The students have probably got more recent practice in a lot of things than someone who just does checkups and fillings 9-5 for years.
Yeah we did this straight away today when we found out what happened and are waiting for a call back. I posted on here to see if anyone had any ideas/experience of getting things moving more quickly that wouldn't involve a huge sum of money.
My referral got delayed in the post during the postal strikes. I therefore didn't respond withing x days and ended up waiting another 8 months or so to see them 😡
the ones you see on the NHS are private companies being paid very little by the NHS to do NHS work, which is why so many no longer bother. NHS dentistry is a basket case. Mine won't even offer a root canal on the NHS as the payment isn't enough to cover their costs.
A root canal on the NHS is north of £300. Something is wrong somewhere if that isn't covering their costs.
Um. No it isn’t…..
”
I assumed it was Band 3. Apologies.