Hi, I visited my dentist last year on a requested appointment as I had tooth pain following a root canal procedure. The dentist didn't actually carry out any treatment on me as I just had inflamed gums from lack of flossing. When I paid for the appointment the receptionist charged me £18.80 for a checkup rather than £32.50 for "Urgent Treatment" which they believe should have been charged. Following this I received numerous letters requesting payment on the outstanding balance which I responded with via numerous phone calls and a letter requesting explanation for the shortfall which no one could actually explain (the above only became clear recently). This has now been passed to a debt collection agency who are hounding me for payment. What action can I take to put an end to this? Firstly, why should I have to pay for the receptionists incompetence to charge me the correct amount in the first place? They have applied an "urgent treatment" charge when no treatment was actually carried out? And finally, I believe root canal procedures come with a 1 year warranty so technically should I have had any charge for this checkup anyway? Help!

Hi My name is Khadija I have been recently been informed by my dentist due to two missed appointments they have now terminated my dental care. The latest appointment I take full blame as I got the dates mixed up, however my first missed appointment this year was due to an accident I had that made it unable for me to attend. I called to explain why I could not attend and they understood and informed that my first missed appointment will not go against me. I have spoken to the Dental manager who has been looking into the matter and today I recieved an email without a detailed explanation that I now have to look for an alternative dental care. They also sent me a letter stating that within accordance to NHS regulations the surgury can now stop my treatment. I have checked the NHS website and the decision to stop any treatment is the sole decision of the surgry andnot the NHS. Being a patient at my surgury I do not recall ever being informed or having a copy of the surgury's policies. It seems so unfair to me that being with them for 5 years and having all my children at the same surgury the decision to stop my care is very irrational and hasty. Is there anyway I could pursue this further please because it I feel the dentist is more concerned about their numbers as opposed to my health. Please advice and thank you so much

Hi All, I've just got off the phone to my dentist after wanting to book an appointment, only to be told I can not have any appointments as there is an outstanding bill of £28 from 2009! This is the first time I have been told of any such outstanding debt with the dentist. The receptionist has stated that the reason for the outstanding bill is due to myself being charged the wrong Band after treatment. I was charged (and paid for) band 1, but they have stated I should have been charged band 2. Can they refuse appointment and any treatments based upon their clerical error, especially without having no contact of the debt and the age of the debt being 2009?

Hi I will first of all say I'm sorry if this post is in the incorrect place, I wasn't sure we're to put it! My issue is that I visited the dentist a couple of months ago to have a filling. They charged me 36.50 at the time and I was told that was the full cost of the treatment. My dentist said nothing as usual and just did the work. I have since been contacted asking for a further 18.80 as I was charged incorrectly. I have said that I don't believe I should pay this as I was told the cost at the time was 36.50 and have paid that in full. They are now chasing me for this money and have passed on to a collection agency. Is there anything I could / should do or should I just pay? I contacted them today to make the payment although I didn't see that I should have to and they made me aware they have passed it on. Any help would be massively appreciated! Sam

Registered at a new Dentist after practise was recommended, ( scared of dentists ) I pay for treatments as in full time employment. when I visited the dentist I filled in the questionnaire, and stated treatments under the NHS cost.... One question on the new applicant page is treatment required straight away, to which I ticked YES and gave brief outline of problem, was given appointment for 5 days away, although they could see I was in a lot of pain and could hardly talk, went to doctors next morning to get pain killers and antibiotics, waited the five days until appointment day, sat in dentist chair explained pain etc, dentist said can remove tooth but would be classed as emergency treatment under private charge, or could make another appointment for following week, where would be charged NHS costing... due to extreme pain I asked for tooth to be taken out straight away, I do have a plate hence a tooth had to be added, to replace the one taken out, the dentist said this could be done, under the NHS costing but would take two weeks to get done, or within 3 days if I paid privately, I opted for straight away, as needed plate back, to attend work, eat properly etc etc I collect the plate Tuesday after my hygienist appointment, which I know I pay for myself, Question I have is I feel I was somewhat pressured in paying private costs instead of having to wait for nhs treatment that the dentist deemed an emergency at the time. I know they are Bands within the NHS charging, a tooth removal and a tooth adding to a plate would come under band two £50.50, my very 1st visit to this dentist cost £60 for tooth removal, and £60 for a tooth to be added to my plate. Already I'm having dough's about this dentist, and feel that treatment under NHS costing's are been delayed, and same treatment offered instantly or within days if prepared to pay privately. I will attend appointment Tuesday, as have to collect my partial plate, just that something is niggling inside me, that I have been somewhat cash cowed just because I needed treatment straight away ? Surely if dentist classed treatment as emergency it should have been carried straight away under nhs banding, not only by paying private cost. kinda feel I was taken advantage of, while needing emergency treatment, either pay private charge for instant treatment, or wait in pain for week and pay nhs charge. thoughts.............................baffled.................

I used to be on the dole but on my visit a few months ago to the dentist, I told the receptionist that was working there I was no longer on benefits and could she update the system to show this...she also gave me a blue paper to sign which I did (I assumed this was normal procedure) after I had told her to update the system to show I was not on the dole anymore. Last week I got a NHS DENTAL PENALTY CHARGES NOTICE for £150.00! I was gobsmacked because I remember telling the receptionist to update the system to show I was not on the dole, so this would not happen. Luckily I had another dental appointment this week and explained to a receptonist the above, she said she could not understand why the receptonist months ago on my last visit had not updated the system and told me to email the practice manager who would investigate this and also locate the blue slip I was asked to sign (after telling the receptionist on my visit a few months earlier I was no longer on the dole) I emailed the practice manager explaining I had told the receptionist on my last visit I was no longer on the dole and to update the system to show this. This is the email I received in response from the practice manager ' Thank-you for your recent email, in which you state that you were not in receipt of any benefits on (date), as you has NHS treatment there is a set NHS fee to pay. The charge is levied irrespective of any misunderstanding or error on either part(patient or receptionist) as at the end of the day there appears to be no confusion as to whether you were in receipt of any benefit. It is incumbent on the patient to pay any fees due just as you would pay at a supermarket check-out, where you are in receipt of goods or services. May I also point out that the form you signed is a statutory legal obligation which must be disclosed by us the the NHS upon request. There is currently a no if’s no butt’s campaign by the NHS to recover lost fees and we would ask you to bear this in mind when receiving treatment from ' The error is clearly on the receptionist at the time who failed to update the system to show I was no longer on the dole, if the system had been updated when I had told them this would not have happened, the practice manager is fobbing me off, what can i do ?

hi nhs info says 'root canal work' is re band 2, yet some dentists put it in band 3? nhs helpline seems inconclusive, seemingly siding with the dentists re band 3 if deemed 'complex'. what band should it be in? anyone any experience re this? etc

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

Apologies if this is not the correct forum for this but would appreciate the CAGGERS' responses to the complaint that I wish to make about the dentist I have been seeing. The complaint letter would (I hope) explain all. Dear Sir/Madam I wish to lodge a complaint against the dentist supplying my dental treatment. I first saw (name withheld) at the end of May 2013 when she examined and took x-rays at which time I paid the initial fee of £18. She explained to me that I would need all my teeth removed and have dentures supplied. She also explained that it would need a number of visits as I am on warfarin and there would be a risk of excessive bleeding. The number of visits would be approximately 8 – 10. This I agreed to as she suggested that I make a series of 3 bookings at a time which would shorten the waiting period between visits. I made a series of bookings over a month which took care of 5 bookings and so expected only 3 further visits to complete the treatment. On the 3rd June she removed some teeth and I paid a further £39 to cover the extractions. On 24 June she removed a further 3 teeth leaving me with only 3 teeth left at which stage she told me that she would leave the last 3 teeth and have impressions made so that I would have some teeth until I could have the intermediate dentures which would be approximately 2 – 3 weeks after impressions. At that time I paid the final £165 to cover all the treatment at Band 3. The following appointment on 1 July was cancelled by the surgery due to (name withheld) ill health. Unfortunately I was unable to make the following appointment on 8 July due to my own ill health. When I attended for the next appointment on 24 July I was advised by (name withheld) that although she could take impressions on that day, it was unlikely that I could get another appointment until November and she suggested that I go to a general practice dentist to complete the treatment. This would, in effect, cost me more as I would have to pay the full Band 3 cost again. There is also no guarantee that a dentist in general practice would accept me as a patient with my medical condition which would mean further delays. Due to complications over many procedures for heart by-pass surgery, TIA’s and finally cancer surgery I have been having problems with losing teeth and therefore trouble eating for some 2 years and had to wait until my INR was in an acceptable range to attempt dental surgery and even then had to be referred by my GP to the (name withheld) and waiting some time for an appointment. I am unable to go out and socialise without teeth and also find it extremely difficult to chew and have to be on a soft food diet. I do not find it acceptable to have to wait a total of almost 9 months to have treatment. I was also advised that I could not get a refund of any money without going through a lot of red tape by filling in forms, submitting them to another department and waiting (for what I consider) quite some time for a refund to my bank account. The payments were made by credit card. Should I not receive a timely and suitable resolution I will have no alternative but to escalate my complaint to the relevant authorities. I would be grateful for your early response.

Hi My self and partner currently receive our prescriptions/dentistry etc free because we recieve housing benefit. My partner missed a dentist appointment a couple of months ago and later receieved a letter of her dentist saying that she owed them £17.50 for missing the appointment. She advised the receptionist at her dentsit that she had her dentistry paid for an apologised for missing her appointment and we heard nothing else until now. We recieved a debt collectors letter today saying that they were acting on behalf of the dentist and my partner owes them £38 (this is for the appointment she missed). Are they allowed to do this even though she has her dentsity paid for? Thanks for any replies in advance M

Hi All I went to the dentist , received treatment , I attempted to pay the fee for treatment by cash I was told the dentist only accepted payment by debit card, I didn't have my card with me. Anyway I said I would call them and make payment by phone which I duly forgot about. I received a couple of letters but thought I'll just pay them next time I go. Today I received a letter from P&J collection services saying I had an outstanding balance of £32.50 the original amount owing was £17.50 , which means they have added on a fee of about 80% . I realise its a small amount but I think this fee is unfair. I queried it with them and they said it was a fee added on for late payment. I looked at some of the other websites that deal with debts for professional people and they say they add the fee on for the client under late payment of commercial debts act 1998. Is this permitted and is the amount right. I couldn't understand the BOE rate + 8% mentioned

Is it possible to get NHS dentist to do bridges where there are recurrent absences above one of the tooth of the bridge, it is a large bridge and appears that they do not do that amount of teethes on one single bridge anymore. She has been to the dental hospital where student do work, but the consultant there said that they cannot do it, I think it was because they could not replace bridge for her and was and was advised by the consultant at the teaching hospital to get a local dentist to do it, but is finding it impossible for any dentist practice to do it on the NHS, they want thousand of pounds for the work. She cannot afford that and it is causing her major health problems now. Any advice on this would be great please.

A bloke and a girl meet at a bar. They get along so well that they decide to go to the girl's place. A few drinks later, the bloke takes off his shirt and then washes his hands. He then takes off his trousers and again washes his hands. The girl has been watching him and asks: "Are you a dentist." The guy, surprised, says: "Yes .... How did you figure that out?" She replies, "you keep washing your hands."One thing leads to another and they make love. After it's over the girl says: "You must be a fantastic dentist." The bloke, now with a hugely inflated ego, says: "Sure - I'm a great dentist, one of the best. How did you figure that out?" The girl replies:..... "I didn't feel a thing."

Hi everyone, Not sure if i'm right here, but the problem is this: My Daughter turned 18 on the 4th July. A few days ago we have received a letter from her Dentist that she has been deregistered at the practice as she hasn't made any further arrangements with them....meaning, arranging a Direct Debit to go on their expensive private treatment plans. I always thought everyone has ,by law now (that's what i heard mentioned at work anyway), a right to a Dentist, and by them deregistering her they've taken that right away from her. I am now hoping/looking to get her into my husbands and mine Dentist practice, but i still want to complain about it. I don't think it is right! Am i wrong in thinking that way, should i just leave it at that? Thanks everyone, jellybabe