DIY Dental Care - what stops should the government pull out

[turbobloke]

A local rag has a headline about a person unable to find a local NHS dentist who found a solution DIY style. Online searching got these top three, the next fifteen are similar or worse.



BBC online covered this ten months ago.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-62253893
Nine in 10 NHS dental practices across the UK are not accepting new adult patients for treatment under the health service, a BBC investigation has found."

Around the same time:
https://yorkmix.com/the-nhs-provided-50m-for-new-d...
The NHS provided £50m for new dental appointments – but no York dentists applied

Three days ago this appeared.
https://dentistry.co.uk/2023/05/23/nhs-dentists-in...
NHS dentists in England at lowest level in 10 years

Anyone tempted by DIY, and what's the cure when a local dose of £50m extracts zero?

[ScotHill]

Make sure you use Fuji!

[thebraketester]

ScotHill said:

Make sure you use Fuji!

Haha… that was also might first thought. Top, pilau rice…. Bottom, poppadom.

[bloomen]

It seems the entire system is hosed. The previous one incentivised dentists to drill holes in as many people as possible. The successor pays you the same for one filling as hours of painstaking work.

I'm sure plenty would want to commit to NHS only but it sounds like you'll be ruined in a very short time by doing so.

Labour created this mess. It's weird the Conservatives haven't spent a small amount of time retuning a mediocre deal for dentists, let alone the people suffering because of it.

If they're going to do nothing and let NHS dentistry fully die then at least come clean.

If we have student loans, then we should have dental loans. And they can reclaim all the trick bits when you croak.

Another factor is cosmetic dentistry. That must be by far the biggest earner for many and they're not going to wind back the clock on that.

Edited by bloomen on Friday 26th May 20:59

[steveo3002]

make a hygiene /clean appointments cheap and available for everyone , easy as getting a hair cut , then down the road the might not be so many rotten mouths

i get mine done in spain at a moments notice for £25 , yet if i want it done here its drive into cambridge (spit) and pay £85 after weeks of months wait

[skilly1]

thebraketester said:

ScotHill said:

Make sure you use Fuji!

Haha… that was also might first thought. Top, pilau rice…. Bottom, poppadom.

Awesome !

https://youtu.be/kgI3Y7gxMO4

[Plymo]

bloomen said:

It seems the entire system is hosed. The previous one incentivised dentists to drill holes in as many people as possible. The successor pays you the same for one filling as hours of painstaking work.

I'm sure plenty would want to commit to NHS only but it sounds like you'll be ruined in a very short time by doing so.

Labour created this mess. It's weird the Conservatives haven't spent a small amount of time retuning a mediocre deal for dentists, let alone the people suffering because of it.

If they're going to do nothing and let NHS dentistry fully die then at least come clean.

If we have student loans, then we should have dental loans. And they can reclaim all the trick bits when you croak.

Another factor is cosmetic dentistry. That must be by far the biggest earner for many and they're not going to wind back the clock on that.

Edited by bloomen on Friday 26th May 20:59

Of course, when you go private you effectively pay twice, once to the private dentist and then again in the tax you pay for the NHS dentistry that you've been unable to use.

One (partial) solution I have thought about is:
Allow anyone to claim back the NHS rate for any private treatment that they have had.

For example, a crown that costs £1000 privately, while the NHS would pay an NHS registered dentist £500 for (which might not cover the true cost, which is partly why we are in this mess!)
You pay the dentist £1000, and claim the NHS rate of £500 back so the cost to you is a more palatable £500.

This has two advantages:
- It means the patients only have to pay the difference in treatment costs, rather than the whole lot effectively twice. More people can afford treatment this way.
- The NHS doesn't get the perverse incentive to save money by taking forever to treat people, forcing them to go private, as they pay their cost anyway.

Admin should be minimal, as the NHS already has agreed rates to pay dentists for various procedures...


Something similar could work for the rest of the NHS - instead of, for example, waiting 18 months for a knee replacement, or waiting 1 month but paying £8k:
You could go private, pay the £8k and claim back the NHS agreed cost of £5k, so it only costs you £3k.
(Numbers are completely made up but you get the point!)

No doubt it would be spun as "Privatising the NHS" but arguably it's the opposite - it's NHS funding every private dentist, whether they like it (or even know!) or not...

[steveo3002]

^ then the private prices would go up the example £500 overnight

[Oakey]

Pretty sure getting teeth pulled is about the one thing the emergency dentist's will do?