LCWRA NHS dental costs help

needhelp120

Hello, I am currently on LCWRA and have been for over a year and I know that it entitles you to free dental care on the NHS for most things. I'm just a little confused. I go to a dentist that accepts NHS and private patients but I have shown them my exemption form. I recently got two white fillings done of which they cost £150 each which was what I was told that I had to pay the private price as they were white. My housemate who is also on LCWRA who has the exact same dentist as me and also got fillings recently and told me that the dentist told him that because he gets free dental treatment on the NHS he would only have to pay the excess charge for the white filling which would be around £50-70, however he opted for the silver filling anyways. I'm just a bit confused, have I been overcharged for my fillings? Should I have only had to pay the excess for the white filling? I feel incredibly stressed now as it was a lot of money.

I was also told that I needed to book a cleaning with them that cost £65. I thought cleanings weren't covered on the NHS and so I paid it. But apparently they are? If so why was I made to pay the private price? I'm just really confused about how this all works

poppy123456

LCWRA doesn't automatically entitle you to free NHS treatment such as dental. I don't know what exemption form you showed them because there is no exemption form when claiming UC.

You're entitled to free treatment if you had earnings of £935 or less in your last assessment period. You can see the elligibility criteria here https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/help-with-health-costs/help-with-health-costs-for-people-getting-universal-credit/

Teeth cleaning is included in NHS treatment. Here's a link stating which fillings are included in the treatement. https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/dental-health/what-are-nhs-fillings-and-crowns-made-of/

Fillings available on the NHS can be made of:

• amalgam (silver-coloured) – a mixture of metals, including mercury, silver, tin and copper
• composite (tooth-coloured) – made of resin and glass mixture
• glass ionomer (tooth-coloured) – powdered glass, which forms a chemical bond with your tooth and may release fluoride that helps to prevent further decay

Alex_Alumni

Hello there @needhelp120 and thanks for your query, Scope recently updated their information on dentists for disabled people, including specialist community dentists, which I hope you find useful to read.

Let us know if we can help with anything further

DudleyJohn

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/671204#Comment_671204

Hi Poppy, I receive the LCWRA element of UC, it says you are entitled to help with dental costs if your take home pay is £935 or less on UC, is your housing element included in that? As my housing element takes me over the £935 figure.

Thanks.

Kimi87

Take home pay only refers to money earned through working.

If you don't work your take home pay is 0 so you qualify.

DudleyJohn

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/1027999#Comment_1027999

Thank you, I appreciate the reply

robert2603

@Alex_Alumni Hi I’m wondering the same question as op but there’s no answer to the white filling question, do we have to pay full private prices or do you pay the difference?

Rosie_Scope

Hi @robert2603, the way it was explained to me by my previous dentist is that the filling as a treatment (the numbing and drilling part) should come under NHS services and be free if you are eligible. But if I wanted a tooth-coloured filling for anything but the front teeth, I had to pay for the material they fill with (the filling itself), around £50 at the time.

I was offered a tooth-coloured filling with no charge for a front tooth as it was more visible, but all my back teeth were filled with grey metal ones.

It may be worth checking with your dentist to make sure ☺️