THE DENTIST.... aaarrrrhhhh - so annoyed!

[hayley]

just want to have a scream and moan.... my dentist has gone private! which i didn't think would effect me as i pay anyway (before i was pregnant).. so to me it's always been private... don't understand the difference! anyway.. i had a check up about 4 months ago and needed a tiny filling... they tried to get me to sign up for monthly direct debit payments and i explained i would once my maternity was up... never heard anything else about it... but then tuesday i'm eating a packet of crisps and my back tooth just broke in half... (well a good quarter of it) so i called for an emergency appointment which i had yesterday... the receptionist (who was either on a period or just wanted to show the other receptionist's who was boss) told me i HAD to pay... i'm standing there 8 1/2 months pregnant.. don't think so! anyway she INSISTED that i was told last time that i couldn't have any more free treatment (erm been once since pregnant - not like i'm abusing it) and that if i wanted to be seen i'd have to pay.... i asked why and she kept telling me the dentist is private... she offerd me a free dentist appointment (with another guy in the building) but i'd have to wait with a broken tooth for 2 weeks and then they'd only do a temperary filling.... i'm hoping to have my baby in 2 weeks.... i was fuming!!!!! in the end i paid £50 for a bloody filling.... and then they had the cheeky to ask if i wanted to start paying monthly....

do we get free dental treatment for up to a year after the baby is born? and how do we go about getting it if our dentist decides he wants to be private (this is a new thing he's decided on)... also i've been told all the NHS dentsts have a waiting list to join... so could end up waiting my full year before i even get a dentist's name.... been with mine for over 20 years...

Think i'm going to move to my husbands dentist - who is also private. I don't mind paying - I did anyway when i worked but just didn't like the receptionist attitude - telling me i was told something when i wasn't... and when i tried to tell her i wasn't she insistsed i was.... how the f**k does she know!!!!!

aaarrrhh - sorry rant over!

x

 

[Hypnorm]

I've had that problem too, My dentist is private and when i was 6 month i went for my 6 monthly check, and he said he'd put me on as nhs and that i wouldn have to pay and i could still see him, but the next time i went in feb my son was 5 months and i still should have been under the nhs i had been sent a letter previously asking if i wanted to stay private so i said yes as i don't want to see another dentist, (i've got used to this guy and he is really nice - i had a lot of work when i was a kid and thus hate dentists!) but when i went in he told me that i would have to pay, because he is not allowed to fund any NHS patients, or something along those lines, and if i wanted NHS i would have to go on a waiting list.
Its all the government i think. So i'm afraid thats that.

Hope that makes sense!

So yes you do get free NHS treatment for a year post birth - but you have to register as NHS, so if he is private he can refuse you treatment unless you pay as a private. because he's not NHS and will recieve no funding...

 

[Amanda]

I had something very similar yesterday Hayley. Apparantly the government have changed the NHS dental payments, and so loads of dentists are now opting to go private. I don't blame them at all as they spend years training and then get paid crap money if they are NHS.

Anyway, I went for a checkup yesterday, and have gum problems again. My dentist gave me a prescription for mouthwash and told me he wants to see me when the baby is 2 months old so he can sort out the problems for good. So, I book an appointment for November. Then I get home and there is a letter to my daughter (not to me) saying that he is no longer doing NHS appointments as of September. So I called them. The receptionist said 'that's why we sent you the direct debit mandate - so you can switch to private and pay monthly'!! I was stunned! So I said to her 'hang on, you want me to pay £11.90 a month for me who will get free NHS treatment for the next 14 months, and another £11.90 a month for my 13 year old daughter?', and she said 'Yes, if you want to carry on with Dr Gupta' !!!!

Anyway, after a few minutes of me trying to get this sorted in my head, a-I called back to see what could be done about Kayleigh, as she is halfway through realligment correction. I got another receptionist who immediately told me they were taking on 2 new NHS dentists in September, and she could swap both me and Kayleigh over to them now!!

The dental treatment in this country is going downhill so quickly. I know an American guy and he says that the British dentistry is a standing joke in America!

 

[Sarah babe]

Hi, i had a problem with my teeth but was not joined at a dentist i looked on the NHS website www.nhs.co.uk and it listed all the nhs places in my area and i signed up and within 2 weeks my tooth was fixed i think it is worth trying as i just called them all up and sorted it.

 

[hayley]

Tankett your so right about Americans laughing at our teeth.. they call bad teeth - English teeth... and they're right! if you want a simple proceedure you pay over the odds here.. and i personnally don't think our dentists are up to the standard of the American dentists.... our problem is we give too much away free to spondgers (illegal types)... don't get me started on that subject!!!! arrrhh

x