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I wonder how many of you have experienced similar treatment (or the lack of it) by your dentist?

We received a letter off of our dental practice last Monday explaining that they could not continue treating patients on the NHS and were therefore offering a 'Denplan' option to their patients.
After having tried and failed to contact them by telephone all week, my wife called at the surgery on Friday morning only to be told the their books were now full. Treatment for our three children will now also be withdrawn because children will only be treated if their parents have signed up to the 'Denplan'.

Our search for another dentist (Private or NHS) has so far failed within an 15 mile radius and we are now looking further a field....

Two dental pratices have just done the same thing, here in cumbria.

Shins
I have been with Denplan for several years now and found that the cost per month is cheaper than paying for the treatment plus all the other added benefits of emergency cover both here and abroad.
With regard to NHS dentists, their contracts are all being renewed next April and there will be a 3-tier tarriff depending on the treatment you receive. This appears not to be advantageous for NHS only dentists and therefore the majority will be supplementing their incomes with private patients or those with similar schemes to Denplan.
Good luck trying to find an NHS dentist who is willing to take on further patients.

What I find disgusting is that we pay through our nation insurance contributions for a service we can not get. People say its not the dentists fault '[censored]' they were trained by the NHS and accepted the terms then so why the change.
If I could opt out of my contributions for dental treatment I would and take my business where I wish.
What we should all do in this country is remove ourselves from the books of these private dentists and see how long it takes them to tow the line. Remember they need us as much as we need them!!!!

I agree with Billy. I have not noticed my National Insurance contribution decreasing even though I can no longer get to see an NHS dentist or optician. Even preventative treatment, which the government is supposed to be promoting, such as sight tests and dental check-ups, cost so people do not have them leading to longterm expensive problems.
I do not disagree with Denplan and the like, I just disagree with paying out a second time.
The NHS: Free at the point of care......HA HA
Robert

I agree, when I moved I was lucky to find a dentist who was still taking NHS patients but had to wait 6 months for an initial visit.

The Government should sort this out, why don't they install dentists in GP practices and insist that they work 37 hours per week on NHS work and once they complete this they can then do private work. Therefore when you register with a GP you are automatically registered with a dentist, isn't primary care meant to be easily accessible?

Kawasaki,
I don't think there's an iota of a chance finding an NHS dentist, I can't even find one with vacancies even if we sign up to Denplan.
I think we'll have to set up a sting operation and go for the blackmail option!

As with a few others on this post I`ve suddenly found myself without a dentist at very short notice. The way dentists have acted is to make the maximum political capital out the situation with little regard to their patients. To see one of our dentists on the local television news saying how sorry he was that people were having to queue for 7 hours in dreadful weather to register for his practice was enough to make one dab a tear from the cheek.

I agree with the comments made about NHS Dentists and why should we have to pay again for their treatment, however, I think we should lay the blame at the government's doorstep as it is they who are making the system the way it is.
Watch this space with regrad to El Presidente Blair's proposals for encouraging private enterprise being introduced into the NHS eg. Foundation Trusts, PFI and the like.

If you act as being too afraid to see your dentist without a general anaesthetic you will have to be refered to your local hospital as no dentists can give a GA. Treatment in a hospital is "free at the point of care".
Some people can genuinely not manage to see a dentist with out a GA so get all their treatment for free.
How good is your acting ability?
Just a thought but don't all try it or the waiting list will be too long.
Robert