Want to share this..
GUTTED!
Went to the Dentist this morning....I pay £10 per month now for a basic inspection, scale & clean once a year AND the privilege of being kept on a dentist's books?
Got a bill for £265 to pay next week for a course of treatment that will last 30 mns.....no X-ray/anaesthetic etc. required....
OK I can pay it.....but the Certificate that says that I'm exempt from NHS charges is now obsolete?
Dentist's daughter is now a qualified physiotherapist but this year's qualified physio's in B'ham can't get any jobs.....the Health Services can't take on staff cos they haven't the budget to pay their salaries....
I'm NOT knocking my dentist (a friend).....she can only operate within the system and I'm pleased to call her my friend, but.......'cradle to the grave'? Times long passed - amd perhaps I should have posted this in 'Nostalgia'?
makes you sick to the teeth ;D BUT take a stand back and carefully think about whether you really really need this treatment - gotta get used to this as I'm sure the whole NHS will run like this and no longer be the NHS - the moral of the story is that we need to stay as healthy as possible and growing our own food is a huge step towards that - I sympathise - private health is one thing but to pay for the honour to be on a list as well, geez >:(
When we wanted to register our children with a dentist they would only take them (NHS) on if we both signed up as paying customers... twice yearly check ups for no treatment for 15 years... and the odd X-ray if they needed extra cash that month!!!
>:(
I pay £15/month and that includes 2 check ups, 3 hygenist visits, and ALL work carried out in the surgery i.e. fillings, extractions.
the only thing it won't pay for is crowns and plates (I suppose).
That's through Denplan and I've been with them for years.
Stupid thing is that I also pay £12/month to the private health scheme at work which will also pay up to £100/year for dental treatment but NOT cover my Denplan payments. ::)
I was really in two minds whether to cancel the Denplan and just go with HSA, but I'd only need one or two extra fillings a year (all mine are years old and probably just about to need replacing) and it would end up costing me more "unexpected" bills.
I can't fault either dentist. I was with the same one in Croydon for 18 years and trained him from a youth, and my new one in glesga is just as lovely (and pain free). with all the problems my mum and nan have had with their teeth i feel it's money well spent and you get what you pay for, but i just wish HSA weren't so inflexible. the only reason i stay with them is that i can also get £150/year on glasses and a massage every month (which i haven't used yet).
one of life's wee bitches.
KP, that sounds pretty good to me - replacement fillings under the new revised charge list are £40 (although if you need more within 2 months I think its free). Costs me £25 everytime I see my hygenist (apparently I'm at risk from my own bacteria :o ) so have to go every 2-3 months. Up side is that I've now been accepted as a patient at the dental hospital (their treatment is free)
I'm not moaning about the denplan bit - i think i've definitely had value for money from them for the past 10 years or so, just that fact that HSA won't cover my dental premiums which i think is daft.
i'm always good as gold for a week after coming out of the surgery, and then i lapse. so i do need to go to the hygenist every 3 months or so just to keep me on the rails.
;D
Denplan costs are SO variable....friends who had to register with them get the same deal as me - at half the price? KP, you've reminded me to check the health insurance scheme I've paid into for years, so might get something back there when I get the final bill....so thanks for that. 8) Like HSA they don't cover the Denplan premiums.
All in all, just one of life's little blips, eh? Thank goodness I've got a box of chox to console myself with ;D
wonder if my car likes chox? It's due for its MOT soon ::) ;D
i've been a Plan B ever since I've been with them. that was £17 darn arf and £15 up here. they increase the fees each year, but by a nominal amount so i don't notice.
when i was shopping around for a new dentist up here, and asked the old one what they're actual prices were, i nearly choked. something daft like £90 a filling !!!!!!!!
not even gold lmao
there's you eating chocs and me drinking the evil irn bru. what will our dentists say !! :o
You're a 'Plan B'?
roflmao...... ;D ;D ;D
I've always been a B, ever since the B stream at school.
Mrs Average that's me.
;D
Would like to know if anyone has tried HSA? OH tried it some years ago and found them ok. Haven't signed up but would be interested to know if anyone else has experience of using them!
;D
All I know is that Wife had 2 fillings recently - £106.
I had a denture remade to accept a replacement for an extracted tooth - £650!!
Perhaps we should have been on a 'plan'. Is it too late??
Not too late Tim, but my with my Plan one paid subs for 6 months before qualifying. Worth shopping around, tho.
Quote from: muddy boots on September 12, 2006, 19:47:16
Would like to know if anyone has tried HSA? OH tried it some years ago and found them ok. Haven't signed up but would be interested to know if anyone else has experience of using them!
;D
i'll let you know muddy boots. i've got an opticians appointment next friday, and have saved about 3 or 4 other bills to be submitted. considering i've now been a member for 6 months and not yet billed them for anything, it will be interesting to see how easy they part with their cash.
Daughter 2 had 3 wisdom teeth out whilst with HSA. (perks of job) Done in local private hospital, all excellent. Now she has moved jobs again and joined in our Denplan scheme. Keep meaning to cost prices against national health but never seem to get round to it. I had major probs 3 years ago when dentist fractured my upper jaw trying to extract a tooth. All subsequent visits to hospital were covered by NH, and I could claim nothing from Denplan!! He retired shortly after, and as he was a friend I felt I couldn't pursue it further.
Ironically, gold fillings are the cheaper option.
I'm one of those grumpy old gits who gets very hacked off at working long hours in a stressful job for the privalage of paying 40% tax to fund services I can't use ( no NHS dentists available since I moved here) or get put to the back of the queue on because I'm not a priority because of my age and "health" ( 9 months wait for a diagnostic test on the NHS - I went private so paid twice!!!), don't have kids, don't qualify for any benefits rant rant rant rant.
...and breath.......
There is a shortage of Dentists up here in the Borders as well. I had to go into Northumberland to be attended to last year because I was knocked off my Dentists books locally. I believe two or three Polish Dentists are promised quite soon. Sad state of affairs really. Wonder if there is a shortage of Dentists being trained now. Ridiculous the prices that are charged as well. :( :( :(
I'm very forunate to have inherited my grandmother's genetic trait for hard teeth so only go to the dentist once a year. I needed a tiny filing on the tooth just behind the lower right incisor. I could have paid £45 for an NHS filling in black metal (don't know the correct name) but as I wanted to smile without sucking the atmosphere down the new black hole I paid £60 for a white filling.
There were a few ladylike exclamations flying around the surgery that morning I could tell you! I recall mumbling something about the increase in costs since my last filling (2 years ago £45 and 5 years ago £22) and asked if they had a pricing matrix based on a sliding scale of cost Vs size of filling as surely my cavity was so small that I could get a discount! ;) ;D
Don't like the idea of blackmailing parents into joining so that the kids can be registered... Sounds like shooting fish in a barrel.
Quote from: bennettsleg on September 14, 2006, 12:12:45
I'm very forunate to have inherited my grandmother's genetic trait for hard teeth.
and my son's very fortunate to have inherited the calcium from mine :o ;)
Sob sob cry cry. used to be that screaming horrible child parents drag in to surgeries!!! But now manage to walk in with a bit of grace by myself!! Am in denplan with the £11 a month job. My mouth is a wreck other people who don't go seem to have far better smiles than me. One of the priviliges of being an old bat I guess.
My mouth used to be a mess as I could always feel everything the dentist did, and it was a frightful experience, so I didn't go. My wife made a terrible fuss about it till I eventually found a dentist who understood the situation and could deal with it (I never feel a thing now). I took advantage of her being a student to get everything sorted out free; I suspect the work was worth thousands, but I never asked.
I had the first tranche of treatments yesterday - £200, with discount £180...rest of treatment & £65 to pay in 2 weeks time. Dunno yet what I'll get back from my Health Insurance Plan.. She THEN wants to start the other half of the work? Well, I got news for her ::)...I'm trying my luck at the Dental Hospital...if they accept me, it's good-bye dentist, goodbye Denplan, hello shops ;D
I hope it works out; I used to take clients there when I worked in mental health, and they were OK.
They're great Robert - they're so closely supervised & use cutting-edge ::) technology, no probs there, but I would imagine that their books are pretty full...anyway gonna try. Thanks.
I've a nephew who's a dentist, qualified some 3-4yrs ago. He deliberately targetted a wealthy area to live & set up a practice. I was horrified when he told me his plans. He's in Bath & married to another dentist. Doing very nicely I believe :-\
Just beginning to feel less depressed and now I've got all hot under the collar again :( the inequity of life, basing life on the profit principle, materialism. Yuck yuck and yuck again. >:( >:(
There's so much out there, most of us have more than we need, so why can't everyone have what they need? .. and a few fewer Beckingham palaces and turbocharged nonsense....
..and as for dentists....!!!!! ;)
(if I rant enough I get it out of my system ;D)
Rant along, Anne & I'll do the descant ::)
Nephew did his first degree, got his Masters, put his head over the parapet, didn't like what he saw, was accepted for dentistry, offsetting part of his costs by lecturing in polymers with his dad funding the rest - again?! - then targetted the area that he thought was going to bring in the most dosh to set up a practice.
>:(
why are you £5/month cheaper than me ? :-\ :-\
hmmmmmph ! ;D
and agree with all the rants above.
Lordy. I have a dentist appointment in less than an hour and I am already petrified (following a very sleepless night)
I've been told I'm to have a crown on a tooth that can no longer be refilled (filling keeps falling out!) I am assured by various family members that this process of being 'jabbed up' and having the tooth filed down does not hurt - but I think they say what I want to hear just to get me there. I asked my son yesterday because he had this process done just last week (his veneer (sp?) kept falling off!) and he said, yes it does hurt a bit. WHAT? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? :o :o :o
but it only lasts a couple of minutes. Might just as well be a couple of hours!
Since the early hours of the morning I have toyed with the idea of cancelling it but I don't have a good enough excuse to give them at such short notice plus I signed a sheet to say I would have it done and pay the costs (why did I sign the darn sheet??) As always, I will make a complete idiot of myself by crying and shaking and generally doing my impression of a rowntrees jelly on the floor.
I have decided to have two large mouthfuls of Jack Daniels plus several mints before I go just to try and relax me a bit.
Have I mentioned how much I don't want to go? :-[ :'(
have faith. in my experience, dentists have been trained 5000% better than in the bad old days.
the two i've had in the past 20 odd years, actually know how to give an injection without pain. my mate is Miss Quivering Wreck and usually got a dose of calm you downer fluid before she even got in the chair. Perhaps you could ask for that.
Good luck YP. as with so many other things in life, the fear is worse than the reality !
;D
The last time i went to the dentist he wanted a arm and a leg to take out a tooth, I told him I could not afford it and ended up pulling it out myself.
PS I fainted straight after
My bestest dentist, and the one I think of when I'm having work done, was in Italy. Now that was a man who understood the psychology of dentistry 8) He'd play your favourite music LOUD so that your head was filled with that rather than the noise of drills, etc. & you'd find yourself (internally, like ::)) singing along....
Had loads of bridge work done (Italians being good structural engineers ;D) with breaks in between for us both to have f*g breaks & tots of whisky from the bottle in his drawer.....he was his own technician so made the falsies etc. in his lab. Remember once having an impression made for the bridge work just before lunch, him heating soup for us in that gadget that sterilizes the equipment (days before microwaves) then finishing the work after the lunch break and I'd watched him making the whatever. My son was little & at the age when milk teeth were loosening...he'd take them out & provide ice cream. Big shock to son when he came to England & found out that the practice wasn't universal ;D
Off in a few minutes for my second session with my current dentist. She's a friend and neighbour....gotta good trick of filling my mouth with paraphenalia then telling me all the latest village goss......and yep! I can only respond like this... ::) or this :o. Still too expensive now for me, tho.
Hope it went OK YP (( ))
YP. Hope all went well. You are probably saying to yourself...what the heck was I worried about (hope so)
Let us know.
Lorna
Quote from: MrsKP on September 15, 2006, 19:37:22
why are you £5/month cheaper than me ? :-\ :-\
hmmmmmph ! ;D
and agree with all the rants above.
You talking to me, KP?
You - "I pay £15/month and that includes 2 check ups, 3 hygenist visits, and ALL work carried out in the surgery i.e. fillings, extractions."
Me - I pay £10 a month for ONE inspection/scale & polish & X-ray per year...is all. Everything else extra.
I woz robbed :'(
Nah, Meg (I think) and my maths was rubbish.
;D
wonder how poor YP is.
Yeah, did wonder KP which one of us you meant..and like you, wonder how YP's got on.......c'mon YP, tell us? We're thinking of you... :D (gappymouthed smilie seemed appropriate :P)
I spent the afternoon in a darkened room ..... (http://www.uploadit.org/lagoonandcastle/smhair2.gif)
Oh, what happened? (we like gory details, we do ;)) and how are you now and what's threatened for the future???? Ohhhh! tell all!! Times like this a Gal needs her Mother.....grrrr ;) ;D shall we report Buddy to the CSA? ;D