dentist charges

[tezmand]

after looking online on the nhs website for dental charges i have come to the conclusion that my dentist is trying it on with their prices apparently there are 3 band charges i recently had a filling at the cost of £48 band 2 but was told it if i wanted scale and polish it would be extra but on the website if you have a band 2 treatment band one is included which is a scale and polish also if you go back within 3 months of treatment and need more doing theres no more charge this will be interesting as the tooth i had filled is the wrong one it is the one next to it so lets see if i get charged again when i go back , anyone else shed light on this ?

[bundleone]

You only pay once for a complete course of treatment, including check up and as many fillings or extractions as are needed, this would cover over a few weeks but should still be one charge of £48. I dont know about scale and polish but my dentist does it in with a six monthly check up for £17.

[Hopkirk]

I'll clean your teeth for a tenner.

[jno]

just put the bog brush away, Hopkirk.

It isn't up to Tezmand to "tell" the dentist what tooth to fill. It's the dentist's job to find what, and where, the problem is and fix it.

[Hopkirk]

Actually, I was going to use an old suede shoe wire brush.

[tezmand]

thanks jno thats what i thought exactly and hopkirk thats sounds worse than the needle in the gum lol lovin the humour

[tezmand]

bundleone thats how it read to me on the nhs website too but she tried to charge me extra for the scale and polish so will see if she charges again when i go bak cheers for comment

[gingerflaps]

there was a documentary on C4 a few months ago showing how dentists across britain were over charging, the NHS ones have a set standard rate and a lot of them try to make more by charging for scale and polish, youre right, this comes under band 2. The 1st time you go for a check up this is about £17, then for the filling you'll need to go back and pay £48 but the scale n polish should be included in that price. So many dentists are doing this and its wrong, you should complain

[tezmand]

gingerflaps as it reads on website if you have a filling at cost of £48 the check up is in with that price not plus the £17 well thats how it reads to me have a look see if im reading it right goin next thirsday so lets see what im charged x

[Old_Geezer]

A little confused. I'd have thought any dentist should be able to identify cavities and decay and so ensure they don't fill a healthy tooth. Maybe there is more than one problem ?

[joko]

thats the point i was making OG...
they can only go by what you tell them - if a tooth looks ok but you tell them it hurts, they would not just drill a healthy tooth just because it was hurting, they would investigate further to see why ...because sometimes pain radiates so its not always clear where the source is
but if one tooth clearly looks bad and the other doesnt they are bound to fill the bad tooth any way... regardless of pain.

it sounds like tezmand has decay in both teeth but one was not visibly bad.... so the dentist decided to deal first with the most likely cause of pain - the rotten looking one - to see if that solved it - rather than going straight for more serious - and costly - treatment.
perhaps one tooth is bad down in the root, and thats why it looks fine on the top.

[tezmand]

The dentists exact words to me were there's nothing I can see that looks bad only one filling looks older than the other one so I will replace that one been. Nearly 3 weeks now and I have left the filling to settle which dentist told me to do when iwent straight bak to her when I could still gat pain when eating pain has got worse now so deffo wrong tooth filled or its something else will find out next thursday

[tezmand]

ok been back to dentist and she has decided the wrong tooth was filled the one next to it is the problem she said it probably has a hairline crack which is hard to diagnose so she has grinded the tooth down so when i bite down the teeth dont meet , seems slightly better but still get the pain sometimes depending what im eating, although i have got into habbit of eating on other side of mouth now , still wouldnt do a scale and polish without me paying extra i said it suposed to be in with the £48 that i paid so she said it doesnt need doing which is funny as i havnt had a scale and polish for a year , my guess is it will never need doing unless i wanna pay extra for it

[welshlibranr]

I think that if you return in less than 8 weeks you don't get a charge, if after, then you have to pay again...

[tezmand]

forgot to say was not charged for the grinding down of tooth

[fredkins]

I was at my dentists a couple of weeks ago,he did the check up and then I went to the hygienist for clean and scale I paid £17.50.Our charges have gone up since i was last there from (£16.50) but I have always had them cleaned and scaled for this price.

[owdhamer]

I went to a new dentist the other day,£40 for a consultancy,£30 for an x-ray

[tezmand]

yea fredkins thats right check up and scale and polish is in band 1 = £17.50 i had filling in band 2 £48 it supposed to include anything thats in band 1 also but she wants to charge me extra its all on the nhs website

[tezmand]

ok heres an update after having tooth ground down to stop pressure when eating the tooth has now broken a piece came out while eating went back dentist she said oh you must of had a crack in your tooth why she didnt do xray in first place is beyond me, anyway she kindly told me she will do me a nice gold crown at the cost of £209 when i picked myself up off the floor i said i do not have £209 cant you do anything else oh well i can fill it she said at cost of £48 why didnt she say that in first place? i reminded her that i had already paid £48 for the wrong tooth that she filled and that i was entitled to any other treatment in the same band price free if it was within 2 month of paying which it is , oh yes she said come back friday no charge , good god its been a hard slog to sort this tooth out