What we offer children on the NHS

When the new dental contract came out in 2006 we accepted an NHS contract to treat children only; this meant that we would only be able to treat children under 16 years old on the NHS. We will accept all children irrespective of whether we see anybody else in their family. All we ask if that the children and their parents are motivated, capable and committed to life-long high standards of dental health. We will continue offer all our patients the choice of being treated on a private basis.

We should also say that we do not accept all children as patients, we only accept patients who are committed to Life Long Dental Health.

We have about 1000 children and periodically as children reach 16 or move out of the City (although many actually still continue as patients).

Children are offered their 1st visits for free and we do a pre acceptance screening. We have an Anti Discrimination Policy and acceptance does not depend on whether we see the child's parents, each child is treated on their own merits. We sometimes refuse to take on children as NHS patients and this will be for reasons such as the complexity of their problem and need for specialist care, the patients refusal to co operate or where we feel we do not have the skill required to achieve long term dental fitness. In all these cases we will refer the patient to an appropriate clinic.

We use exactly the same materials for our children as we do for our private adult patients, so for example most fillings for children are tooth coloured. We follow the same high standards of Cross Infection Control. We are happy to answer all questions and a written treatment plan/report is given at each check up visit.

What do we offer privately?

Patients may see the Hygienist, for example, for sealants, fluoride therapy or preventative cleaning etc where this treatment may not be appropriate on the NHS.

Patients who want to be seen at a particular time (Saturday or after school) may be seen privately at these times.

Children who are not prepared to wait for an appointment may pay privately if they wish to be seen sooner.

Children who wish to have check ups more frequently than the NHS NICE intervals may pay privately if they wish to be seen sooner.

Children may be seen as NHS patients outside our core NHS times if we see their parents at the same time.

The quality of our NHS examination, referrals, explanations etc means that children can have all their necessary dental care on the NHS

Do we need to be seen privately?

The main advantages are that you can be seen at a time that may suit you better, you may also be seen sooner, but even more importantly you can have all the preventative and specialist treatment which may not be appropriate under the NHS.

An extra hygienist visit for a simple Scale and Polish costs £25.00.

Good oral hygiene and a good diet are the secret. Good Dentistry is the option when we get the first lot wrong. We also feel that children should see the same faces when they visit the dentist. Change is not a good thing. Our Dentist and Hygienist have been worked at our practice for nearly 10 years.