NHS Dental - What's Covered?

Hi Guys,

Now that I'm settling back into things in the UK, I'd like to see if I can register with a local dentist that will take NHS patients. I'm overdue for a cleaning and a check-up  Anyone know what is and is not covered on the NHS? When we were living in London, our dentist was part-private/part-NHS so procedures were at a reduced rate. I can't seem to find any other place like that where we live now.

Thanks!

See here for what is covered:
https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/nhs-dental-charges.aspx

There are three different treatment payment bands on the NHS in England, and each band covers all the treatment in that band, along with the treatment in any bands below it.

So, say you went for a check-up (which is £21.60), but they decided you needed a filling as well (which is £59.10), you will pay £59.10 in total for both the check-up and the filling.

See here for what is covered:
https://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/nhs-dental-charges.aspx

There are three different treatment payment bands on the NHS in England, and each band covers all the treatment in that band, along with the treatment in any bands below it.

So, say you went for a check-up (which is £21.60), but they decided you needed a filling as well (which is £59.10), you will pay £59.10 in total for both the check-up and the filling.

Thanks for the link ksand! That makes sense - now to find a dentist


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Good luck, I’ve searched high and low and no dentists around me are taking new nhs patients so I went private. Maybe others have had luck, but it’s almost like nhs dental plans don’t exist anymore. I hope you find one!

OH is with a dentist on nhs but they wouldn’t take me on. Kinda stinks but they have this dentaplan thing I’m looking at you pay a small monthly fee and it covers exams p, X-rays and most work you would need. I guess kind of like insurance but it was cheaper than my work dental plan.


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Good luck, I’ve searched high and low and no dentists around me are taking new nhs patients so I went private. Maybe others have had luck, but it’s almost like nhs dental plans don’t exist anymore. I hope you find one!

OH is with a dentist on nhs but they wouldn’t take me on. Kinda stinks but they have this dentaplan thing I’m looking at you pay a small monthly fee and it covers exams p, X-rays and most work you would need. I guess kind of like insurance but it was cheaper than my work dental plan.


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Yup, me and kid 1 are registered with a local NHS dentist but we have been waiting about a year for them to be allocated more spots for my husband to register.  They do NHS and private at my practice.

Yeah, it can be tricky to find an NHS dentist that is taking patients... dentists in some areas of the country have waiting lists of over 2 years just to register!

Because of this, I've stayed registered with my childhood NHS dentist for my entire life, even though I now live in another part of the country, because I don't want to risk not being able to register somewhere else. In fact, just looking it up now: there are 16 dentists within 5 miles of where I live now, but only 1 of them is taking new NHS patients. In comparison, there are 4 dentists within 5 miles of where I grew up and 2 of them are taking new NHS patients.

Since retiring in the USA we got used to paying full price for our dentist so when we returned to England we took up the recommendation of a private practice that our good friends here recommended. Not only do we love the dentist, who after the 1st visit recommended not bothering with insurance since our teeth were very healthy, but we can't believe how inexpensive it is compared to what we had grown accustomed to. The first visit was free apart from the full set of X-Rays that cost £7. Like the dentists in the USA the X-rays were immediately brought up on a computer screen where he talked to me about them.

A scale and polish with the hygienist costs £54. The 2nd visit 7 months later included an examination by the dentist which cost £27 and he told me (and my wife at her appointment) that he didn't really need to see us more than once every 18 months unless we had issues, and that we could continue with the hygienist if we wanted but even that wasn't absolutely necessary as we obviously practiced excellent dental hygene.

We do have a dentist taking NHS patients in town that my sister and family use but they do seem to have a lot more issues. (My sister has crowns, caps and a dental implant or 2)

Found a dentist on NHS Choices and managed to book an appointment for mid-July so thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction

Found a dentist on NHS Choices and managed to book an appointment for mid-July so thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction

Well done!!

I've had an NHS dentist for about 5+ years now, but I had a private dentist for 5 years before that. I agree, the costs definitely weren't bad at all.  Even though she was private, she never tried to rake me over the coals like the dentists in the USA. 

Found a dentist on NHS Choices and managed to book an appointment for mid-July so thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction

Well pleased for you!!!

I've had an NHS dentist for about 5+ years now, but I had a private dentist for 5 years before that. I agree, the costs definitely weren't bad at all.  Even though she was private, she never tried to rake me over the coals like the dentists in the USA.

We did go to a part private part nhs dentist once. We cancelled our second appointment due to something coming up, but gave good notice. Receptionist chewed me out saying they’d not be able to get me in for another four months then. I didn’t like her attitude so I left.

Found my current dentist by accident when I need some cosmetic dentistry repaired. His office is very clean, very state of the art, and he picked up things I knew needed picking up but the other one didn’t.

My mom was a hygienist so I feel like I have an unfair advantage about knowledge of my teeth. And he’s not pushy over things either. Could have easily tried to upsell me on a porcelain veneer that I can’t afford at the moment, but didn’t. Charged me like 70 quid instead. 

We had no problems getting appointments with a NHS dentist up the road from us within a couple of weeks. Exams are free, scale and polish is 11 pounds. (Of course, the scale and polish seems to be less thorough than what we got in the States - or my dental hygiene has improved!) There are a couple of other dentists' offices not far from here with banners out saying "now accepting NHS". So maybe it's better up here in Scotland?

https://www.scottishdental.org/public/treatment-charges/

Would like to find a really good private dentist, though, as I have a mouth full of fillings that will eventually need to be replaced and I don't want metal.

My partner and I have been spoilt for healthcare since before returning back to the U.K.  We spent 18 months living on Ascension Island where our employer footed the bill for our medical and dental. For example, I had a badly needed root canal treatment that took several visits to sort and twice courses of antibiotics - we paid nothing! Now that we’re back in the U.K. I don’t anticipate we will need to go to the dentist so often to warrant going private. Talk about being in the right place at the right time


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So maybe it's better up here in Scotland?

Pretty much everything is better in Scotland... apart from beer.