NHS Dentist

[ChChing]

Hi

 

I'm unsure if anyone can help me or has any experience of this, but I thought I'd give it a try.

 

I currently am one of the 'lucky' people who still has an NHS dentist (after being on the waiting list for nearly a year.......).

 

Anyway my NHS dentist sees a lot of private patients also and I always get the feeling everytime I go that I'm being sold expensive treatments which are only available for private patients etc... I do decline politely as it's usually cosmetic treatment and not necessary. The dentist is very pompous (IMHO) and can be downright rude and my appointments last for a 3 minutes (if I'm lucky) and that's for a check up. I pay my band A charge (£18ish now) and then if I need another appointment such as a filling etc, he makes me make another appointment and I'm charged again - usually Band B. I understand that time constraints are there and 'work' such as fillings etc need to be factored in. However, because I refuse his cosmetic private treatment and I'm an NHS patient, he's very rude, rushed and in my opinion does not really care.

 

I feel really uncomfortable around him. So my question is, can I change my NHS dentist and be put back on the waiting list even though I have access to current NHS dentist. I know that some people really struggle to find one.

 

Thanks

[cruzer]

Yes you can, have done this myself three times, but beware finding a good NHS dentist is almost impossible.

[rebel11]

Private Dental Practices see NHS Patients as 'cash cow's without providing the quality of service. A lot have now started taking NHS patients.