Hi everyone, I'm Prateek a dentist and specialty doctor and in this video, we're going to be looking
at the NHS dentistry banding system and some exceptions to the rules. If you want to see more
educational videos similar to this, please make sure to subscribe to the channel and please make
sure to join the dentalnotebook Facebook group - all the links are in the description. Care under
the NHS is generally free at the point of service, however, there are some exceptions to this and one
of those exceptions is dentistry. In this video, I'm primarily going to be looking at NHS dentistry
within England as there are subtle differences between the countries across the United Kingdom.
Unfortunately there is a common misconception amongst patients that NHS dental treatment is
free in England. This generally isn't the case so in this video we look a bit closer at the
NHS banding system and how patients are charged and some exceptions to the rules. NHS dentistry
is ultimately about providing functional dentistry and not cosmetic dentistry. With any treatment that
is carried out under NHS dentistry, we're aiming to provide a functional improvement to the patient
or carrying out disease prevention and management. NHS dentistry is essentially
divided into four bands of treatment and each band has an associated cost that the patient pays.
The charge for the band usually changes every April and the prices that are included in this
video are correct at the time of filming. So we start off with a band one and this would cost the
patient £23.80. Within a band one, we have the following items included - clinical examination
assessment and reports, so this essentially is the patient's checkup with radiographs, adjustments
of dentures, applying sealants or fluoride to the teeth, marginal corrections of fillings,
impressions of teeth, a scale and polish if clinically necessary. We then have band two and
this would cost the patient £65.20. Here's the full list of treatments included under a band two
but some examples include fillings, root canal treatments, extractions or relining dentures. We
then have band 3 and this would cost the patient pounds £282.80. Band 3 essentially includes anything
that involves lab work because as you can imagine the cost of this is higher for the dentist in the
practice. Some of the items included in a band 3 are crowns and bridges, veneers and dentures. We
then also have a band 4 course of treatment or this is also an emergency band this would cost
the patient £23.80, so the same as a band one course of treatment. However, there are subtle
differences in what we can carry out in a band four course of treatment. Here is the full list
of things that we can do, however some examples include extraction of no more than two teeth,
one permanent filling, abscess drainage and a re-cementing of a crown. So we've looked at the
banding system, now let's look at a couple of the rules and exceptions to the rules. If a patient
is having treatment that covers more than one of these bands, then the patient would just pay the
cost of the highest band. So for example if they're having a filling that would come under a band two
course of treatment but they're also having a crown fitted which would come under a band
three course of treatment, they would only pay £282.80. They wouldn't pay the cost of a band 3
and a band 2. There are a couple of treatments that are actually completely free on the NHS
these include removing sutures, having dentures repaired and also stopping bleeding from a socket.
So if a patient has a course of treatment completed but they return back within two months
and require further treatment, then if this is in the same band or lower of what they've paid for
they don't have to pay again. So for example if a patient has just had some fillings done
and their course of treatment has been completed they're returned two to three weeks later and they
require further treatment, that is still covered by a band two - they wouldn't have to pay anything extra.
Their old course of treatment would be reopened and continued. Certain procedures are also guaranteed
under the NHS and this is usually up to 12 months. These include fillings, root canal treatments,
inlays, onlays, veneers and crowns. If a patient has a filling done and six months from now they come
back and the filling's come out, then they wouldn't have to pay anything extra for the filling itself.
However, there are some exceptions to this patient does not have any guarantee on the NHS treatment
if they've gone and had private treatment on that tooth since the original work was done; if they
were told at the time that the treatment that was being carried out was actually temporary in nature;
alternatively if the patient was offered certain options and was advised that one option was better
than the others however they went against this advice then this would not be guaranteed on the
NHS and also any damage or failure of restoration that occurs due to trauma would not be covered. If
a patient is being referred for certain procedures for example periodontics, endodontics or surgical
procedures, under the NHS then this may fall under the advanced mandatory referral remit
which is essentially where the patient is charged as one course of treatment at the dentist
but they end up not paying when they get to their final destination for their treatment.
So for example if a dentist is referring a patient for an extraction, they would create one course of
treatment that would be a band two and the patient would pay £65.20, however the referring
dentist would only get one UDA, so they'd only be able to claim the band one for themselves
because the band two treatment is being referred elsewhere and this is just to simplify the system
so that the patient only pays at one location which is at the dentist they won't then go and pay
at the location they've been referred to. NHS dental treatment is free for some people and
these people include patients who are under the age of 18 or under 19 and in full-time education,
patients who are pregnant or within 12 months of having a baby, treatment in hospital being
carried out by a hospital dentist, those who are on low income benefits, NHS tax credit exemptions,
HC2 certificates and those with a HC3 certificate may get some contribution towards their treatment.
However patients must sign an FP17 form to declare their exemption so that they can be exempt from
paying treatment. If they are not exempt and they claim this then they could be fined. So in this
video we've looked at quite a lot of information. We've looked at the NHS banding system and what's
included in each band and we've also looked at some of the areas where there are exceptions to
the rules and some things that can catch patients out but also catch dentists out. I hope you found
this video useful. If you have any questions about the NHS banding system, please feel free to leave
a comment below or alternatively head over to the Facebook group which is linked in the description
and leave a post there. Make sure to like, comment and subscribe and until the next video, take care!