Summary
NHS dentist's are a bit like gold dust. Even if you can find one, there are costs involved for the vast majority of people. Dental plans and insurance can take away some of the hassle and ensure you get the right treatment.
This Won't Hurt A Bit
Have you tried to find an NHS dentist recently? It's no longer a simple matter, with more and more of them only operating privately. Even if you're lucky enough to find one, or find that your own dentist is staying with the NHS, there's a cost involved for most people. The only exceptions being if you're expecting a baby or have a child aged a year or less, a student in full time education (up to 19 years of age), under 18 or receiving benefits.
Even if you're registered with your NHS practise, they're entitled to refuse to offer you treatment if you don't make an appointment with them for 15 months and it will be deemed that your registration has lapsed. Even if your dental health is good, the dentist will advise a 12 monthly appointment to keep it that way.
If you're happy with your dental care and lucky enough to be NHS registered then these regulations regarding check ups are doing you a favour; fewer than half of the UK population go for regular dental checks and when they need to go they may find it very difficult and undoubtedly very expensive.
Private dental insurance is well worth your consideration. Some private medical plans - the ones covering your general health - will cover you for dental treatment too, but by no means all include this and where they do, the cover may be very limited.
There's a wide range of dental insurance plans, and as wide a range of prices, from budget to super all inclusive.
There are plans that offer NHS cover, which means that they cover the NHS treatment costs alone. Others give cover for preventative dental care and all dental treatments, but introduce limits in certain areas.
Dental insurance policies cover you for treatment with your choice of dentist, not tying you to a particular one. You don't need a dental inspection to get cover and cover is normally world wide, provided you're abroad for short periods of up to 28 days, meaning you have no concerns about funding dental emergencies, wherever you may be. Many of these policies repay all check ups, and simple work up to a cap of a certain figure - often 150 pounds and then pay a proportion of the costs above this, up to something like 2,000 per year.
It's all very confusing. The most simple and sensible way to sort out the various options and make sure that you apply for the cover that's right for you is to find an on-line independent insurance adviser. They'll have an unbelievably wide range of options available and will quickly find the right cover at the best possible price.
Dental plans which you arrange with your own dentist are another way of spreading the cost. The main provider of these is "Denplan" and lots of people use the word to cover a range of providers - much in the same way as all vacuum cleaners used to be called " Hoovers " although maybe "Dyson" has taken over now.
These plans are capitation schemes and your dentist will assess the condition of your teeth and how much dental care he estimates you'll need over the following 12 month period and then a plan is worked out to spread the cost over the year, on a monthly basis. If you have a good dental record then the cost will be kept to a minimum and this can be a good plan, but it could be costly for someone with dental problems. There are some exclusions to the plan, such as orthodontic treatment, dental implants and cosmetic treatments. Again, all plans vary slightly and you'll need to read the small print to find out all the details.
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