Can a Doctor?

Refer you to the hospital dentist to have a tooth out? DP has a severe toothache, he cant eat or talk, cant even touch his face and we cant afford a dentist, cant get finance for it and dont have and cant get a credit card. If he goes to the doctor do you think they can refer him to the hospital dentist? We went there and they wont see him unless he is on a benefit or unless hes reffered?

Thanks Kelly.

Yip, there can be a waiting list and public dentistry is not fully subsidised - ie he may still have to pay for the work but it wouldn't be nearly as much as a private dentist.

Rant alert - I really think dentist services should be at least partially funded by the government. Bad teeth are linked to other health problems that just end up costing the health system more. Rant over.

If your on a benefit you get either $300 or $400 ( i've forgotten which ) a year

Because dentists are privately owned and get to set their own prices etc, they decline the use of Community services cards etc,...makes things very difficult sometimes, because teeth ARE expensive .
Some places do loans but you have to be pre approved,which can take weeks and who wants to wait around when you have a sore tooth huh ?

Kandice if they take his tooth out ,make sure he does NOT spit out today , tho he will most definetly want to , and doesnt smoke for at least 24 hours , and starts using salt rinses from tomorrow .
He'll probably want something smooth or liquidy (and not too hot !) for lunch too

Does he have a community services card?  Some dentists do offer a VERY cheap price with this.  At least they used to and I was just looking up info on CSC and it did mention dentists.  Pays to ring around.  I know Waltham used to.

He has 3 that need removed.

$150 a pop

Grrr... this topic makes me mad! I asked to be referred to the hospital from my dentist - that part was no issue... But when it got to the hospital side of things, the only way we would be eligible for public care was if we'd had a community services card which we don't have (by literally, a few dollars!!!!!) but still did not have a spare $3,000 for what I needed done.

So with a CSC card, you'll be sweet.

Dentists can charge so much because they get to set their prices , Ive worked at places that charged $200 for an extraction and others that cost $150 , (and thats for the same tooth , eg an upper back molar )

What you are mostly paying for is the dentists time and the materials, the materials are not cheap , I dread having to make any orders ,and most dentists are busy , for example at the moment I we are booked 3 weeks in advance (so usually recommend people to A and E if toothache is severe)
Plus , despite what people think , their job isnt THAT easy , (i get really amused when just ordinary people tell me they could do a root canal..oh really ? what files would you use ?) hence why they study for 5 to six years.
But I agree that some funding would be good , guess this is one benefit of being a Dental assistant...all my work is free , should make the most of it while I can !

and its quite rare to find ones that will accept communtiy services cards...mainly cos a lot of dentists ARE greedy !
also , another good thing to note is that some places do SDBs which is free dental treatment for children , (eventually they will be getting less and less dental nurses) and some , not all, we dont , do GDBs which is free dental treatment for 13 to 18 (as in before your 18th birthday )

yeah I was going to mention that LM, there are nicer dentists out there who let you pay it off , those are good ones to go to , a lot want full payment on the day (but if you cant pay it then and there ,there isn't much they can do except send you an invoice )
The dentist I work for occasionally waves the fee if the patient is going through hard times, eg a patient we had on Monday ,her father is going through cancer so the dentist didnt charge...I like him when he does that, he seems a bit more ......human .
Most of the time he isn't ....

I don't know what you or your husband do for a living, and this is really thinking outside of the box here, but what if you offered to "work it off"? This comes from personal experience -- I was at the dentist once, and I could hear the patient in the next chair talking to the dentist about his financial situation, and she suggested that she do the dental work he needed in exchange for some barter work. He was a landscaper and the building's garden was in sore need of some beautifying. I thought that was absolutely brilliant. You might have to ring around a couple of places and ask to speak to the practice manager, and there would no doubt be a contract involved, but it might just be something they'd be willing to consider. Best of luck!