Re: Dentists
 

The majority of what were NHS dentists rightly or wrongly went private- mainly as a result of the genuine pittance that you were being paid to do say a check-up- I seem to remember the fee of around £4.50- the problem was that they barely put the fees up over the years and I bet it isn't much more these days.

They therefore had to get on a hamster wheel to work through patients as fast as they could which inevitably leads to cutting corners which is never a good thing for patients. The workload and ethic wasn't good if this carried on for their professional career so the bulk of them went private and obviously whilst their clinical work is quite tightly regulated, what they charge is more difficult to control. Again, as I and others have said, one needs to do some shopping around until you find a dentist that you can trust who will not do what you believe is unnecessary (though who is to say it is or it isn't) work for an acceptable price ( this last bit is probably very hard!!)

Re: Dentists
 

My previous dentist was an upseller. Every time I went in the place he gibbered on "veneers, veneers, veneers". He was South African and most of his staff were from countries in South America. He drove a Mercedes.

I dumped him because of the constant pitching and went with an Iraqi who's staff are from Afghanistan and China. He operates multiple chairs in multiple locations. It would not surprise me if he has a Ferrari, as he has that "joy of wealth" air about him, like a Knightsbridge heroin seller. As best I can tell, he does only what needs doing and takes great pride in his work "if this didn't have worked you'd be having a root canal and you don't want that. I have saved you from pain!"

So, my experiences are that, if you don't like one, there's always another and no one who is going to put his or her fingers in your mouth will be from around here.

Re: Dentists
 

I certainly remember their representatives saying they couldn't do good work with the sums/funding involved. It may well have been the case that they were not properly rewarded given training, experience, responsibilities and all the rest. Much like my own former employment. :nod:

Yep, difficult indeed.

But my biggest complaint was the big increase going private required of me after all those "clean sheets" at my check-ups. The £4.60 I had to pay was maybe not much, but I imagine there was a further fee received.

But the monthly plan was supposed to reflect likely need. My real need had been £4.60 x 2 = £9.20 for each of 5 years = £46 and a one off £9 for glue. That's £55 in 5 years.

The new, private system, required me to pay £15 a month and in the event of needing new crowns it didn't even cover lab fees!

Hard to conclude that was anything but a rip off and there may not even have been any treatment at all, let alone unnecessary treatment.

Re: Dentists
 

Not very many around here are from around here either. Ours is Croatian, and lovely - although she does have the archetypal dentist's knack of asking a question just as she's got your gob all full of cotton wool and pointy instruments, and then proceeding to answer it herself on your behalf. I never knew I held some of the opinions she has ascribed to me in her monologues :ohmy: