Undercover Investigation Reveals Unfair Treatment of Dental Patients

According to the findings of an undercover investigation, dentists overcharge their patients and do not inform them correctly regarding the fact that they can get cheaper treatments through their NHS policies.

Some even go to the point where they pressure the patients to choose the private insurance, even though these patients could receive the same quality treatment through NHS, but much more cheaply.

There has also been a case where a patient received a quote 4 times more expensive than a non-private insurance quote for a root canal treatment.

These findings have been made public through the “Dispatches” team from Channel for on TV. There have even been sent out members from the public to go for NHS check-up at offices that offer both private and non-private treatments.

After the “patients” have spent on an average 15 minutes inside the office, they came out and said that they have been recommended to go with private care (the focus has been especially on hygienic dental services). An NHS scale and polish treatment costs around £16.50, but instead of that patients have been given quotes for private treatment which is much more expensive.

Some other members of the public were sent to three surgeries where they have been asking about the root canal treatment options.

With the NHS this treatment costs around £198, but instead patients have been quoted rates coming from the private sphere- £678, £598 and £725 respectively.

The opinion of Dr. Anthony Halperin who is a dentist and a member of the Patients Association is that these dentists are not sincere and rightful towards their patients.

The next step is that the coalition is ready to re-negotiate the dentistry deal of the Labour from 2006, to see what changes can be made in order to enforce fair treatment for the patients in the dentistry field.