New dentist = fail

[TimberWolf]

Are there any British dentists?

All fully booked, NHS wise anyway, I expect.

[xoggoth]

Are there any British dentists?

[hyperD]

Avoid Eastern Europeans, they are only after your money. Or in your case, your teeth.

And your money.

[TimberWolf]

Ah, you complain to your dentist in the first instance and I can only see that at best resulting in a second appointment for a free scale and polish and a hard sell, and probably resulting in permanent damage as only dentists know how to do, so I'll probably put it down to [bad] experience. It's not worth risking ruining teeth or gums for the sake for £17.

If you wish to make a complaint about the care or service provided by your dentist or dentists' surgery, contact the person responsible for the practice complaints procedure. Your dentist will try to resolve your complaint.

If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction, contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

Further information about making a complaint is available from the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS), your local Independent Complaints Advocacy Service (ICAS) and the Department of Health website. You can also visit the NHS complaints section on this site.

If you wish to make a complaint about private dental services, you should contact the General Dental Council on 08456 120 540 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting**************08456 120 540******end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email [email protected].
FAQs

[TimberWolf]

How much will I pay for NHS dental treatment?


£16.50 gets you a clean and checkup. £45.60 gets you all non-major stuff - whether you have 1 filling or 5 (really, NHS dentistry is incredibly cheap), and in the past I pay the £16.50 on the checkup and the remaining £30-odd on the day of the treatment.

Telling you fillings have to be done privately sounds fishy to me.

The whole experience seemed fishy to me.

Looks like you're right - I was ripped off.

Band 1 course of treatment
£16.50: This covers an examination, diagnosis (for example an X-ray), advice on how to prevent future problems, and a scale and polish if needed. Urgent treatment when you need to see a dentist immediately also costs £16.50.
FAQs

Should I complain, and if so who to and would it achieve anything?

[d000hg]

How much will I pay for NHS dental treatment?

NHS dental charges

The three NHS charge bands are as follows:

• Band 1: £16.50. This charge includes an examination, diagnosis and preventive advice. If necessary, it also includes X-rays, scale and polish and planning for further treatment.
• Band 2: £45.60. This charge includes all the necessary treatment covered by the £16.50 charge, plus additional treatment, such as fillings, root canal treatment or extractions.
• Band 3: £198. This charge includes all the necessary treatment that is covered by the £16.50 and £45.60 charges, plus more complex procedures, such as crowns, dentures and bridges.

£16.50 gets you a clean and checkup. £45.60 gets you all non-major stuff - whether you have 1 filling or 5 (really, NHS dentistry is incredibly cheap), and in the past I pay the £16.50 on the checkup and the remaining £30-odd on the day of the treatment.

Telling you fillings have to be done privately sounds fishy to me.

[TimberWolf]

What was the £100 for? £16.50 is standard NHS fee, although I thought only for actual things done unless this was your formal check-up?

Fillings are rarely done on the spot in my experience, I guess simply because they can't schedule appointments without knowing how long they'll take.

Two fillings, one on the NHS (maybe, depending on how deep he has to go) and the other would need to be private. The bill was only an estimate, but they wanted £40 cash up front! Presumably £17 only covers a check-up, rather than a scale and or polish, so I wasn't ripped off?

[d000hg]

What was the £100 for? £16.50 is standard NHS fee, although I thought only for actual things done unless this was your formal check-up?

Fillings are rarely done on the spot in my experience, I guess simply because they can't schedule appointments without knowing how long they'll take.

[minestrone]

==

[Mich the Tester]

Perhaps you've unwittingly contributed to AtW's plan B.

[TimberWolf]

Wilmslowesq post coming up...

I thought I'd give a new dentist a go, as my last one seems to leave my teeth in a worse state than they were before, so a month or so ago I went on to the NHS website looking for local NHS dentists. Of the 3 available, two weren't taking new patients, despite what the website says, so I booked with the third, which as it happens is within walking distance, so all good.

I went there today and was greeted by an eastern European girl, whom I could just about understand, apart from the odd word. She gave me a form to sign, and as I went to read what I was to sign, she says I need to sign it. I say I would prefer to read what I sign and also point out that my address and name are spelled incorrectly. She didn't want me to enter any form details myself either. Do you guys sign stuff unread and with lots of blank fields missing, even if it is at the dentist? Anyway as she was getting a new form I see that it is a harmless consent form.

She also needs a formed signed to say that I appreciate that they will not do major work in the NHS, only checks-up and small fillings

So I go in to see the dentist and his assistant, both also eastern European by the sound of it, and likewise just about comprehensible. I tell him I get a sharp pain occasionally on the RHS when chewing hard stuff, subsequent to a filling I had with my last dentist. He looks at it, discovers nothing, but says he can redo it as long as it's not a big job, and also finds a chipped tooth which he says can only do privately.

After telling me about the things he can do, one possibly on the NHS and the other not, I'm a little surprised to discover that the session has ended. I thought he was going to do a filling on the spot, but there is not even a scale or polish to be done. I'm getting a little concerned about what they are going to charge me for this 5 minutes estimate.

So back to reception and the receptionist who wants me to sign forms that I'm not to read has another form for me to sign, this one with a bill of over £100 on it. I say the fact that the dentist says I need to go private for one filling suggests to me that that one isn't urgent and that I would leave it for now. But no, the receptionist tells me that it is important and that I should sign the bill, and also something about they only do front teeth on the NHS. I say I will pay for today's 'treatment' and would think about the rest. Thankfully that is only £16.50, though when I get out my debit card the price is upped to £17. She says I have 3 days to sign the form which she was reluctant to give me a copy of. For a minute I thought her just used printer had broken because getting a duplicate for me to take away was turning out to be a big job.

It turns out that if I want a scale and polish I have to book with the hygienist, which I think is £25.

So I'm £17 lighter and have had no scale or polish, but at least my teeth aren't worse than before treatment, so a kind of result.

Nevertheless I think I'll give that outfit a miss.