You don’t see a poor dentist

You will probably suspect that I’m going to have a bit of a rant with the title of this post but honestly I’m right aren’t I? You don’t see a poor dentist.

I hate visiting the dentist

I’m terrified of the dentist and hubby, whilst better than me does not look forward to treatment. So, when you find one who gives you confidence you stay with them. We have been with our dentist for years. Right the way back when they took National Health patients. That was the norm then and people who went ‘private’ were usually those who had health care as part of their salary package.

Paying for treatment

When our practice decided they would no longer take NHS patients, we had a decision to make. Do we try and find another dentist or find a way to pay for our dental care. As both of us were working and as I was unlikely to find another ‘wonderful practitioner, we decided that we would stay where we were.

We signed up to Denplan which is a monthly direct debit plan that covered most of your treatment costs. I say mostly, as there were a few things that it didn’t cover. Thinking back, I seemed to need treatment in that category so was paying extra but somehow when you are earning you don’t seem to question these things.

Retirement

Once we had both retired, we closely analysed our outgoings and decided that a large monthly amount was not an effective way to cover the health of our teeth. After all we didn’t go every week so we plumped for paying for treatment as it is needed. Of course, unlike some fees, those set by the dental profession are not reduced for older folks. As you age so do your teeth and they begin to show their years and are likely to need more treatment so getting a reduction in costs is out of the question.

Now – shock horror!

Thankfully, our gnashers have done well and we haven’t needed emergency treatment. We do make sure we take good care of them with flossing and mouth washes. Of course we haven’t gone regularly every six months as that check up is costly. Hubby had to go along the other week. His front tooth has a crack in it and occasionally  needs a bit of packing. That cost £90 but of course it also allowed the dentist to see what the state of play was.

He went back today and had two ‘small’ fillings (dentist’s own words) and a clean up. He was really pleased that is didn’t hurt at all. That was until he had to settled the bill – £200!

So, for less than two hours work and relatively minor treatments we have paid out nearly £300. Yes, it is still less than the monthly charges would have cost us as they were around £65 a few years ago, but even so!!

I remember an item on TV not long ago where they reported the fact that lots of people no longer go to the dentist regularly. The number of practices that now offer a NHS service are few and far between and with costs as they are, those findings are not a surprise.

So, to return to my title, you don’t see a poor dentist do you?

How do you pay for your dental care?

feature image credit: Details via photopin (license)

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