AIBU to question being charged five x NHS band 3 fees?

[Shockedbycost]

Last week I had a dental checkup at a dentist which has both nhs and private patients. I’ve always had nhs treatment and paid the relevant band charge. Last week they told me I need multiple fillings (7 in total) in all 4 quarters of my mouth. Some of these have the potential to be inlays but they won’t know until they drill them out. They had said if I want this on the NHS, it will be four separate band 3 charges, for the four quarters of my mouth. They also recommended a mouthguard and said this would be another band 3 charge. So that’s 5 x band 3 charges for recommendations that have come from one checkup (and therefore to me seem to be under one treatment plan)
is this correct? My understanding and googling indicate I should be paying one band 3 charge for all of this treatment. Please can someone clarify?

im a dental nurse and this really isn’t right. I’d be tempted to report him tbh

Sounds like they may need some crowns, which is a band 3 charge

Shouldn't be paying 4-5 of them though.

nhs dentist here.

this is not correct. Hopefully there has been a miscommunication but 1x
band 3 is the most you should pay for a single course of treatment. Breaking down the treatments in 4 quadrants and charging multiple courses is not correct.

dentists Can phase treatment across multiple treatment plans but it has to be done with clear justification and over months but it is not quadrant by quadrant.

please ask them to clarify. You can also get great advice from the NHSBSA helpline - look it up. They should be able to help you and might escalate it for you if required.

Not if you are nhs. Level 2 not 3 should be one or several fillings for seventy odd pounds.nhs include white fillings at the front.if anything is level three then fillings included with this. Look on the website and also contact the local supervisory office for advice. Hopefully an nhs dentist will have commented ( i havent read the ft)

Sorry good advice from nhs dentist already given.Thank you specialagentblonde ... our NHS dentists are important and valued by us.

Ok, so the charges are as follows:

• Fillings are band 2

-Inlays/inlays/crowns are band 3.

You pay for the highest band if there's a mixture.

The reason you're being quoted 5 x band 3 is that they are leaving a 2 month gap between quarters.

If you have treatment within 2 months then you pay the band that your initial treatment was in only, then top up to the higher band if your next treatment is in a higher band.

If you have treatment after 2 months then you pay the charge afresh.

I suspect they are deliberately spacing the appointments to maximise their fee.

@Bushmillsbabe yeah but they’ve told OP it’s 7 fillings only no mention of crowns, I get that things might change during the treatment but band 2 has to be the starting point surely

definitely some dodgy dealings going on here

@Specialagentblond would you charge band 3 for 7 fillings?

No this is info for new treatment not for an agreed course of treatment at the start

There's no time limit with regards to how long a NHS Course of Treatment (CoT) should take to complete, it would be however long is clinically necessary to treat the identified needs and planned treatment for the patient.

They have said band 3 because some have potential to be inlays (at least one tooth per mouth quarter!)
This was not my first appointment for ages as some people have suggested. I had various other fillings about 6 months ago (I believe I paid one band 2 charge for these but it was a different dentist at the same practice) but the new dentist says these have worn down substantially in that period. Having said that one filling did chip on my way home from the dentist which I didn’t think seemed great. I do grind my teeth quite badly - in hindsight I should have been wearing a mouthguard long before now but I didn’t realise it was causing as many issues. I am going to try and seek a second opinion about the treatment they have suggested in general, and will email them about the costs as even if I find a new dentist it seems they are giving incorrect advice.

In her post at 10.12 today OP mentions there are 7 teeth which need work, and these may be fillings, inlays or crowns depending on how bad it is when actually start work

But if unknown, they could start by charging band 2, and then charge the difference if crowns needed.

I would definitely get a 2nd opinion. I had a private dentist tell me I needed 3 x root canals at a cost of over 2k. I then luckily got an nhs dentist who said I needed 1 simple filling, and 1 tooth was beyond salvage and was extracted.

If there's two month gaps then it's being done on different courses of treatment, with each one having its own separate fee. Agree you should question why this is the case- sometimes it is justifiable to stage treatments however especially if there is a lot of restorative treatment to do, but it's difficult to comment without the radiographs/ other findings.

No point having any crowns or fillings until you have the nightguard made; you'll grind through them otherwise.

I don't understand why they need to leave two months between each mouth quarter being done for fillings, other than to charge for another course of treatment. Would be interesting if they put the whole treatment plan and cost in writing - which explained why they are using the timescale they have suggested. A lot could change between now and the final set of fillings in 6-8 months time.

I can understand there may be a delay if inlays or onlays are needed, but my appointment for an onlay is just two weeks after the prep work was done.

To repeat myself the 2 month rule has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with a course of treatment time

There's no time limit with regards to how long a NHS Course of Treatment (CoT) should take to complete, it would be however long is clinically necessary to treat the identified needs and planned treatment for the patient.

as you’ve said OP get them to write it down, it’s not right what they are trying to charge you. They should also document what would happen if you move to band 3 and again you’d only pay that price once

faq.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/knowledgebase/article/KA-01986/en-us

No 7 fillings would be a band 2

I recently had root canal, crown fitting and 2 filling plus checkup and polish. These were done over a few different appointments and I only paid 1 band 3 charge.