Any help with dentist costs?

[ceetee]

Hello,

I just picked something up from one of my earlier threads about discounts, benefits and help you can and should claim once a firm diagnosis is in place. Is anyone aware of any help with dentist costs in England? This proves quite a problem in our family. My husband has got Alzheimers, eats loads of chocolate and sweet things, drinks virtually undiluted squash. I know this is quite common...and with lacking oral hygiene causes tooth decay, which requires a lot of attention. I find it increasingly difficult to find the money to pay for fillings and repairs as they are not on the cheap side. Would be interested to hear from people.

Best wishes, Ceetee.

 

[ChristineR62]

Hi Ceetee

With my mum, I had a similar problem with the glasses that she lost and the false teeth that also went astray. On looking into it, I found the following links helped:

http://www.nhs.uk/nhsengland/Healthcosts/pages/Dentalcosts.aspx

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/1125.aspx

http://www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/HealthCosts/Documents/HealthCosts/HC11.pdf

I can't remember the exact details now, but because Mum only has her state pension, pension savings credit and a small pension from my late father's employment with the NHS, she qualified for help to the extent that she no longer has to pay for dental treatment and gets help with her glasses.

Hope this helps.

Love
Christine
xxx

Edtited to add: Mum is in residential care, and was at the time of the applicaiton for the certificate.

 

[Nebiroth]

There is help, but it is means tested. For people on state pension it's pretty much , if you get Pension Credit (not the savings bit) you get it free otherwise you have to pay. The same rule applies all over the place, I get really sick of hearing how if you get Pension Credit you get it all, if you don;t you get nothing. I realise there are deserving people on Credit but I also know there are those who could have worked and saved but didn't, they often end up financially better off than those who did.

Sorry to get on my hobbyhorse over this but the way the system is set up it just makes people who were prudent or hard-working feel like idiots for being that way

 

[littlegem]

There is help, but it is means tested. For people on state pension it's pretty much , if you get Pension Credit (not the savings bit) you get it free otherwise you have to pay. The same rule applies all over the place, I get really sick of hearing how if you get Pension Credit you get it all, if you don;t you get nothing. I realise there are deserving people on Credit but I also know there are those who could have worked and saved but didn't, they often end up financially better off than those who did.

Sorry to get on my hobbyhorse over this but the way the system is set up it just makes people who were prudent or hard-working feel like idiots for being that way

Hi, we're on Pension Credit. Why? Because for years we couldn't get any help with hubby's osteo arthritis so he couldn't work as a builder. We had to sell the house because we couldn't afford the mortgage. What was left after the mortgage was paid off didn't last long as it was all we had to live on to pay rent on somewhere and all the rest. When hubby had his stroke all the benefits kicked in but all our SAVINGS had gone.
Our fault we're on Pension Credit?

 

[Nebiroth]

That's why I said there are people on Pension Credit who deserve to be.

But like all means tested things, it provides perverse incentives.

That is why I think that the Citizens Pension is such a good idea. A bigger flat-rate pension paid to all with means-tested topups done away with. There would be a huge saving in the administrative costs and at the same time everyone would know that every pound they managed to save or put into a pension plan would be worth it, rather than at the moment, simply acting to deny them extra benefit payments.

No one should ever get into retirement and come to regard making their own provision for it as a foolish waste. That happens far too much at the moment.

 

[TinaT]

You can apply for an NHS exemption certificate form HC1 irrespective of whether you have pension credit right or not. Telephone the NHS Health Cost Helpline on 0845 850 1166.
You do not need to fill in the form if you or your partner are:

• Getting income support
• getting pension credit guarantee
• getting income related employment support
• getting income based jobseeker allowance
• entitled to NHS Taxcredits

None of the above applied to Ken and myself but I was told I could claim for :

NHS prescriptions,
NHS Dental Treatment,
NHS wigs and fabric supports,
sight tests, glasses,
travel to recieve treatment if referred by GP, hospital doctor, or dentist.

I only applied last September as before that I had never heard of this help.

I completd the form, sent it off stating Ken's illness and got an exemption certificate entitling Ken to all of the above.

For dental treatment I had to pay the full cost and once treatment was completed, send the reciepts with the exemption certificate number and my bank details and was reimbursed.

You are also entitled to £25 towards the cost of glasses. This is only given once every two years. Ken broke his glasses in between this two year period. I sent a letter informing them that I had to claim in between the two years because of his condition (he continually broke his glasses) and was allowed the £25 again.

As far as I am aware I applied and got this certificate on behalf of my huband Ken because he has Dementia.
xxTinaT

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