UK Politics Thread

The way the government (and previous ones) totally dismantled NHS dentists is shocking. The way they did it never made any sense. I assume it was designed to make the entire system so broken that people would have to move to private dentistry, but the UK has never had a system of private dentistry so I assume private dental insurance still isn't a common thing to have.

For reference, there are about 10 dental clinics within a 20 minute walk from my apartment. A general checkup would cost about 4 quid.
Don't need to be a member, although it might take a week or so to get a non-emergency appointment. 

Though like the UK, (I assume still), prices can get expensive for non emergency care, or for white fillings that aren't on front teeth (and so aren't covered by national health insurance.

If I ever come back to the UK, I'm definitely getting my entire family full dental checkups/treatments before we come.
(though I think recent immigration changes have scuppered any chance of that)

This is the reason a lot of my work colleagues will go home for various things, especially dental care. They say it is cheaper and far easier to get and appointment.

I checked back on how much I spent on a dental checkup (and clean) back in September. £146...

Dentists here are like bloody hair salons. They pop up all over the place. I think 4 new ones have opened in the past year.

My old apartment had a 5 minute walk to the station, and there were 9 dentists on the way

I put off going for ages because I was worried about the cost, and the first time I went the bill was about 1 quid. I thought they'd made a mistake!

I don't think dentists here get the big bucks, but they seem reasonably well off and there are lots of new young ones opening clinics all the time.
They do try and upsell you on the fancy fillings though. 

Yes, I don't know what the nurse adds. Seems mostly admin.

Never seen a hygenist either. In the past, the dentist has done a quick scale and polish to keep on top of things. No more though, so suspect I may need a visit soon.

My dentist is pay around 50 quid a year for an annual check up and if there's anything else that crops up that requires investigation or some minor treatment I tend not to have to pay much if anything on top. It works okay for me and I've been seeing the same dentist for something like 20 years now.

Same, not been since I was 16. Never had any tooth pain or other issues.

It’s purely luck of the genetic draw anyway

Very droll

I haven't been since moving back to the UK... I used to go fairly frequently in the US. I paid for it, it wasn't that bad.

Have never had a cavity, though.

My dad was a dentist. He would frequently tell horror stories of people that thought they never needed to go the dentist because there was no obvious problems and then one day they died from infections that spread to the brain.