Why I don’t provide NHS dentistry.
If I did I, like so many of my colleagues who are in the N.H.S. , would be forced to significantly reduce the high quality of the service that my patients expect from me, I would be unable to provide many of the treatment options currently available to them, such as tooth whitening, veneers, zirconia crowns and white fillings in molar teeth. I would be back on the dental treadmill!
NHS dentists are contracted by the P.C.T. to provide a certain number of units of dental activity per year -typically around 9,000. Treatments are grouped together and these groups are allocated a number of U.D.A.’s (1, 1.5, 3 or 12).
Within any course of treatment only a certain number of them can be claimed up to a maximum of 12. If a dentist does not achieve his quota in the year s/he is financially penalised, if s/he goes over her/his quota s/he will not be paid for the excess treatment provided. So if you don’t get it right you lose money.
This puts N.H.S. dentists under pressure to maximise the number of U.D.A.’s per patient per course of treatment and to ensure they achieve their quota within their budget. This often means that patients whose treatment does not provide a high U.D.A. count are treated as quickly as possible. It also means that treatments which would incur a high bill from the dental laboratory are avoided. Hence the treadmill!
