• Dental Phobia Support

    Welcome! This is an online support group for anyone who is has a severe fear of the dentist or dental treatment. Please note that this is NOT a general dental problems or health anxiety forum! You can find a list of them here.

    Register now to access all the features of the forum.

private dentist company

M

megaman

Junior member
Joined
Dec 12, 2011
Messages
8
I am from the UK and have had the same NHS dentist for years now
however I found out that the practice was recently taken over by Aspire Dental Care.

I still get NHS treatment however

I am a bit worried about this because sometimes you hear stories of private dentists giving people treatment that they do not need just so they can charge them for it, this would be particularly easy with NHS patients because they have "price bands" so the practice would only need to say I need the minimum treatment to enter a specific price band and they would get the highest possible payment for it.

I am very worried about this because i hate dentists anyway and from about the youngest age i can remember my mother had a private dentist who always did loads of work, she was suspicious about this and later NHS dentists told her that it they probably just did unnecessary work to get money out of her.

Does Aspire dental care have a reputation for this or any other sort of dishonest practice?
 
I haven't heard anything about this company but personally prefer to avoid any kind of Corporate Dentistry whether contracted into UK NHS or not. USA has a woeful track record in Corporate/Chain dentistry with massive billing fraud going on and patients being exploited often in barbaric ways.
I>M>H>O> The best option for a choice of dentist (NHS or private) is a private individual working alone or in partnership with other dentists to provide hands-on care for their patients and being accountable directly to the patients for that care.

Dentistry is a bit like 'learning to drive', quality care comes with experience and having enough time to spend with patients. This is usually easier to find with a private dentist in their own practice who cares about the long-term relationship, than with an NHS dentist who has a steady flow of new patients so can get away with providing less than ideal care without going broke.

All private dentists however are not ethical or competent, you have to find an individual you trust and build a relationship. Try looking on our DentistFinder for your area if you are not happy with the care you receive at this practice.
The current NHS contract in England and Wales (currently under review) actually incentivises neglect and undertreatment (especially re cleaning) rather than overtreatment - my worry with the type of set-up you have linked, is that it sounds like they could be upselling you to private procedures - which is fine if they are clinically indicated, not so fine if not. Not sure whether they are using a lot of recently qualified Associate dentists as well.

Remember you do not have to accept any treatment and have the right to make an informed consent decision - I know historically in NHS it always feels like you don't have a clue what they are doing but it shouldn't be like that - they should be happy to explain and discuss x-rays etc etc . No dentist can force you to do anything.
 
Try to see if there are any reviews for your area.
I am personally very fussy and have to hand-pick and get to know my dentist with a view to keeping them long-term.

NOt saying this is the case here but any dentistry set-up that works as is often the case in the USA with 'production targets' for the Associate dentists employed should be avoided like the plague. Dentists should be diagnosing what is appropriate for an individual patient, and so by definition this cannot ethically be targetted as no one knows what the patient about to come in actually needs.
 
Brit ... you've been studying the state of UK dentistry for too long ... you need to get out more... this is possibly the most accurate assessment of the nature of uk dentistry I have ever read!!!!

Lincoln



I haven't heard anything about this company but personally prefer to avoid any kind of Corporate Dentistry whether contracted into UK NHS or not. USA has a woeful track record in Corporate/Chain dentistry with massive billing fraud going on and patients being exploited often in barbaric ways.
I>M>H>O> The best option for a choice of dentist (NHS or private) is a private individual working alone or in partnership with other dentists to provide hands-on care for their patients and being accountable directly to the patients for that care.

Dentistry is a bit like 'learning to drive', quality care comes with experience and having enough time to spend with patients. This is usually easier to find with a private dentist in their own practice who cares about the long-term relationship, than with an NHS dentist who has a steady flow of new patients so can get away with providing less than ideal care without going broke.

All private dentists however are not ethical or competent, you have to find an individual you trust and build a relationship. Try looking on our DentistFinder for your area if you are not happy with the care you receive at this practice.
The current NHS contract in England and Wales (currently under review) actually incentivises neglect and undertreatment (especially re cleaning) rather than overtreatment - my worry with the type of set-up you have linked, is that it sounds like they could be upselling you to private procedures - which is fine if they are clinically indicated, not so fine if not. Not sure whether they are using a lot of recently qualified Associate dentists as well.

Remember you do not have to accept any treatment and have the right to make an informed consent decision - I know historically in NHS it always feels like you don't have a clue what they are doing but it shouldn't be like that - they should be happy to explain and discuss x-rays etc etc . No dentist can force you to do anything.
 
Brit ... you've been studying the state of UK dentistry for too long ... you need to get out more... this is possibly the most accurate assessment of the nature of uk dentistry I have ever read!!!!

Lincoln

LOL....you are right...especially as I am not even in the UK at present! My OH would deffo agree. I managed not to post for two whole weeks over Xmas/New Year.
 
Back
Top