A Question About Dentists
Can someone tell me what this means? Does it mean I've got no hope of getting an appointment? I'm new to the UK dentist lark. 
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Dentist.aspx?oid=de_QEN035&pid=000001_DY103DL
NOT Currently accepting new fee-paying NHS patients
NOT Accepting new charge-exempt adults for NHS treatment
NOT Accepting new children aged 0-18 years for NHS treatment
http://www.nhs.uk/ServiceDirectories/Pages/Dentist.aspx?oid=de_QEN035&pid=000001_DY103DL
NOT Currently accepting new fee-paying NHS patients
NOT Accepting new charge-exempt adults for NHS treatment
NOT Accepting new children aged 0-18 years for NHS treatment
0
Comments
EDIT - FYI the UK Dentistry system is basically three tiered.
1 - Private ... pay for it all yourself. Charges set by the individual practices
2 - NHS "subsidised" ... you pay a set fee for most treatments. I think it's around £16.
3 - NHS paid ... people on certain benefits and in certain (age and other) categories get it totally free and the NHS picks up the WHOLE bill.
There is also Denplan (others available I'm sure) whereby you pay a certain amount every month/year and then that covers all or most of your dentistry bills. Like BUPA (again, or A.N.Other private medical insurance) for your teeth!
Aha, that's ok I'm happy to pay. Thank you very much.
If you do a search for PCT's and find the one in your area (by using your postcode) they will have a list of NHS dentists. Alternatively, you can google NHS uk, where you will get the option to put your postcode in. Even if you find an NHS dentist, there's no guarantee they will take you on as many are full. Many dentist are now going private, with the exception of a few.
My dentist has now been 'taken over' by Polish dentists, most of the english have gone private. My recent experience has been a bad one, and I am currently looking for a new one. The polish get paid crap wages so do crap work, the majority anyway, but there you go.
NHS dentists, subsidised by the government, can only do a cost minimum lot of treatment, which is basically £195.00 for 2/3 months. Any necessary treatment above that will go untreated. Sad, scary, but true, unless you go private, where you will pay double to what the NHS dentists are charging. It's getting bad. Many area's aren't even covered by a NHS dentist anymore. I watched a programme the other day, and there are many videos on utube apparently, where people are getting so desperate, they've pulling their own teeth.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. It scares the shit out of me.
Edit : I am not racist, and I accept many polish are decent dentists, I merely go on my experience. And I am yet to find a decent one.
Another edit: The programme that explained it more was one on BBC1 which I recorded from Tues morning called 'Dom's on the case' or something like that, anyway it's that Dom bloke who looks into problems. Hopefully can watch on BBC's iplayer. It's definitely worth a look.
http://www.onthebox.com/program/4078255/sign-zone-dom's-on-the-case-dentists.aspx
You're welcome. More info. I'm sure you'll be able to watch on BBC's iplayer.
Where on earth did you hear such utter crap?
The current NHS dental setup - whilst far less than ideal & nothing like the system which was proposed by the dental profession (and ignored by the govt) - is split as follows:
Band 1 - £16.90 charge to patient (assuming you pay)
Covers examination, any necessary x-rays, simple scaling & preventive advice
Band 2 - £44.60 charge
Covers all of Band 1, plus fillings, extractions, more advanced scaling & periodontal treatment
Band 3 - £198.00 charge
Covers all of Bands 1 & 2, plus more advanced treatment such as items requiring laboratory work (crowns, dentures, etc)
The dentist is expected to provide ALL treatment necessary which the patient is willing to undergo. There is no provision for "doing some now, then some later", unless the patient does not wish to have all the treatment done in one course.
The "2 month rule" applies to a patient returning within 2 months of completing any course of treatment, and allows them to have any further problems rectified at no charge, provided they fall into the same Band as the previous course, eg -
You have a filling done in Sept. You return in Oct because another filling has broken. This 2nd filling would be fixed at no cost to you.
eg2 -
You have an exam in Sept, no treatment needed. You return in Oct with a broken filling - you need to pay the Band 2 charge for the treatment.
I'm sorry to say that some dentists are abusing the system to suit themselves rather than their patients, which is a situation largely generated by the crap system foisted upon the profession. It is not something I agree with, and - as an NHS dentist myself - I see too many patients having suffered as a result of such behaviour by "colleagues" who should know better!
This is where (I thought) I'd read the info correctly:
http://www.whatprice.co.uk/dentist/nhs-private-prices.html
The rest of my post still stands though, and you've obviously brought more to the table, all in all it's looking pretty dire.
I've since found this:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1560154/NHS-dentists-can-cost-more-than-private.html -
[The findings have led to accusations that NHS patients are being ripped off under a system one dentist branded "wicked".
Dental industry leaders said the disparity between charges had been caused by the new contract the Government had imposed on dentists, which was designed to simplify treatment costs.
Patients pay a flat rate of £43.60 whether they have one filling or six. If they went outside the NHS they would have to pay for only one filling, although many private surgeries do charge much more.
The disclosure comes after an official report revealed that 47,000 fewer patients were being treated since the new NHS contract came into force in April last year and at least 500 dentists have left the health service.
Two million people are trying to register with an NHS dentist but are unable to find one to take them.
Since the changes, NHS dental treatments have been banded under three costs.
A band one treatment, such as an examination, X-ray or scale and polish, costs £15.90.
Band two treatments, which include anything from one to six fillings or root canal work, cost the patient a fixed flat rate of £43.60.
Band three treatments are crowns, dentures and bridge work and cost the patient £194.
For each treatment carried out dentists earn points, called Units of Dental Activity, the price of which is set locally and is an average of about £20. For a band one treatment the dentist earns one UDA, for band two they earn three and for band three they earn 12.
Dentists have been given targets on the number of UDAs they must carry out each year but if they exceed it they are not paid more.
Those who missed their target this year have been asked to pay back thousands of pounds, meaning more dentists are now considering leaving the NHS.
The Daily Telegraph understands that some dentists are playing the system by splitting treatments across several visits so they can collect a new set of payments for each visit.
Ian Mills, who runs a practice in Torrington, Devon, said: "Financially the contract is worse for patients than it is for dentists. If a dentist does complex treatment they are penalised.
"If I have a patient with an abscess I could save that tooth by doing a root filling, which would take two hours, or I could take it out, which would take 20 minutes. Ethically, I should save the tooth but they are the same financial reward so the incentive is to remove the tooth."
Anthony Halperin, the chairman of the Patients Association and a dentist, said: "I am convinced that this contract is not to patients' advantage. They are not being treated as efficiently as they were under the old system and they are paying more for it.
"Dentists are so driven by hitting targets that there is no incentive to carry out complex work that might be best for the patient. I fear more dentists will leave the NHS."
Peter Ward, the chief executive of the British Dental Association, said: "For a government to be responsible for building a system that drives these potential incentives is wicked. This is the reason dentists are deciding to leave the NHS. We can't have a situation where delivering the best care for your patients means you lose money."
The BDA's records show that 1,600 dentists left the NHS before the new contract was implemented in April 2006.
Mr Ward said he expected more dentists to leave the NHS this year as the inadequacies of the contract were now becoming a reality.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "A dentist is contractually required to assess the treatment needed and deliver that as a single course. Deliberately splitting a course of treatment to claim more than one payment for financial gain is fraud.
"An NHS patient has the security that however much treatment is needed the charges will be capped at a maximum of £194."]
***Cilonen, as a NHS dentist maybe you can answer me a question? Are dentists using a cheaper anaesthetic in some practices? I posted this thread a few days ago regarding my experience:
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=910437
I've used many different brands and have yet to note any difference in efficacy between them.
I have had 2 cases in 15+ years of practice where patients reacted adversely to the injection, in the manner you reported. One was later treated with an alternative anaesthetic without problems, the other reacted in the same way with the alternatives.
The local anaesthetics (LA) used are (in order of most routine use & efficacy):
Lignocaine, with or without adrenaline (Lignospan)
Prilocaine, with or without felypressin (Citanest)
Articaine with adrenaline (Septanest)
The adrenaline/felypressin is a vasoconstrictor - it narrows the blood vessels locally to hold the anaesthetic at the site.
Articaine-containing LA should not be used for nerve blocks (eg - the injection at the back of the jaw for lower teeth) as it has been shown to cause prolonged numbness of the tissues (lasting days or weeks in some cases).
I hope this is helpful.
I just want to find a dentist in England, instead of waiting until I go back home to Australia which is only every two years.
Very, thanks.
One more thing - before this dentist, I was with my previous dentist for 20 years and never had a single problem with injections at all. Not one reaction. This is what's confusing me, could I have suddenly become allergic to any one of the components?
Apologies PamelaL, I've hijacked your thread!
Did you look into the links I gave earlier?