Dentist.

[maggie01]

I had an appointment for a check up at 9-30 this morning and he said everything was fine. It is now 12-30 and haf a tooth has fallen out. I rang the surgery but can't get an appointment today. I work in the mornings and after having 7weeks off, do not want to ask for time off. (Day off Wed that is why I have been today). Can't get an afternoon appointment till next tuesday. Cost me �15.50 check up .I am sure the poking about has caused half my filling to fall out. I suppose I will now have to pay to have it re-filled. Anyone know what the cost is please? Just hope I don't get a toothache now.

[scoobydooby]

The charge for a filling is �42.40 and I think you will be required to pay all of this. However, if you'd had a check up and paid the �15.50 but your dentist said 'you need a filling', you would then have only been charged the �42.40 minus the �15.50 you'd already paid. A little complicated but the cost of treatment is meant to cover the course of treatment. Anything unexpected costs the full fee again.
See this website:

http://www.nhs.uk/England/Dentists/DentalCharg es.cmsx

I went to my dentist with a toothache. I couldn't tell him exactly where the pain was just a 'thereabouts' and I 'think' it's this one. Had an xray and a prescription for anti-biotics (even though no obvious problem could be found) and paid �15.50. Went back two days later, in agony, and definitely knowing exactly which tooth was playing up. Had it extracted and was charged �42.40. When I questioned this is was 'apparently' because I hadn't pinpointed the correct tooth in the first instance! Beware!

[stevie-p]

Funny isnt it???
I had no trouble with my teeth for 3 years and never visited the dentist,until i went for a check up 10 months ago,now iv had all sorts of problems...kinda makes you wonder!!!

[maggie01]

It was a bit weird today. Usually he polishes them etc but I .looked at my watch when I went in and when I came out. Two minutes or thereabouts. As I walked out he said" Everything's fine, if you need another appointment just ring" It was as if he knew there was going to be a problem. Is this their way of making extra cash. If he had said I need something done it would have cost me �42.40, this way they make an extra �15.50.

[MrXLA]

A few things to say:
If a filling can be 'poked out' then it is on its way out.
So I should think that should have been noted during the examination.
If during three months of an exam something arises which is covered under the NHS remit of dental care i.e. you need a feeling then it would be usual to be charged the �42.40 minus the �15.50 already paid.
Although it may appear to you that the dentist is attempting to make more money, under the new NHS system dentists are salaried and given a target to meet, they have to complete so many units of dental activity UDAs within a year in order to maintan their contract value for the following year. So they don't actually recieve any more or less money from an NHS patient regardless of the cost to the patient or the work carried out. One strange feature of the UDA system is that any amount of work not involving the use of a dental lab. and excluding check-ups counts as 3 UDA's, that is 3 UDA's for 1 filling in a patient or 15!! So the dentist has no incentive to find extra work as they recieve no benefit. Also the dentist only recieves 1 UDA for a check-up, whether this includes x-rays a scale and polish or not, so again if a filling needs replacing its in the dentists interest to replace it as it gains them an extra 2 UDA's. Its quite obvious then that the person who only needs one filling is paying towards someone else who needs 10 (they both get charged the same!) hardly fair!