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Useful Questions
Dental services can answer your questions about treatments and costs when you are making enquiries and also during a consultation. However, it can be difficult to know what to ask.
The questions below relate to all aspects of a dental service. You may want to use some of them to help you to make an informed decision.
The clinicians
- Who will I have a consultation with?
- Who will carry out the dental treatment?
- What are their qualifications and experience?
The cost
- What will the consultation cost and what does this cover?
- What other costs might be involved in the consultation (for example, for investigations)?
- What will the treatment cost?
- Will the treatment be provided under the NHS, privately, or a combination of both?
- What happens if I change my mind and decide not to complete the treatment? Do I still need to pay the full cost for the treatment? If so, how will this be worked out?
- What are the arrangements for payment?
- Will I have to pay for broken appointments? If so, what are the charges?
- If I have to cancel, what notice do I need to give to avoid any broken appointment charge?
The consultation, investigations and dental treatment
- How quickly will I get an appointment?
- How much time is allocated for each appointment?
- How quickly will any investigation or treatment be carried out?
- How long will any investigation or treatment take?
- What do you do to help with pain or anxiety about treatment?
- How will you address any cultural needs I may have?
- Will I be without teeth for any time during the treatment?
- Will treatment affect my eating or speech?
- What information is available about this treatment?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of my treatment or investigations?
- Are there any other treatment options available to me to achieve the results I want?
- How successful are these types of treatment over the long term?
- If I want, can I bring someone with me to appointments?
- Is all the equipment used in my treatment sterilised or used only for me?
- What are the out-of-hours arrangements?
After the consultation, investigations or treatment
- Will I need any pain relief after treatment?
- Do I need to take any special care of my mouth just after treatment?
- How do I contact the dental service if I think something has gone wrong with my treatment?
- How can I help prevent further dental problems?
- What should I do if I am unhappy with any aspects of the consultation, investigation or treatment?
- Can I move from one dental service to another if I want to?
The record of the consultation, investigation and treatment
- What kind of record will you keep of my consultation, investigations or treatment?
- Will my records be shown to anyone else for any reason?
- Will I be able to get copies of my records and results if I want them?
- If I want to see my records, what are the arrangements for this?
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