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Most people will be aware of the major changes to Dentistry that were brought in April 2006. PCTs now control the number of dentists in their area and also our "contracts". That includes our terms and conditions of service, the number and type of patients to be treated, and how much we are paid. The aim of these changes is to allow dental care, including Orthodontics, to be provided according to local needs (and budgets). Not everyone agrees that the old system needed to be changed, and a lot of Dentists have decided to opt out of NHS care altogether. However, as a main provider of orthodontic specialist care in this region, we have worked well with our PCT and intend to stay in the NHS for as long as we can. Briefly we are contracted to start and finish around 600 cases of orthodontic treatment per year. Our high standards will be audited and monitored by the PCT. We are expected to only treat patients of a certain level of need and can only treat patients on the NHS who are under the age of 18 (except students, provided they are under 19). For more information on this, please see the NHS/Private? page. Dentists who send patients to us are aware of all this, but are still encouraged to refer patients for assessment and advice even if the need for treatment is borderline. We do of course provide a full range of treatments on a private basis for patients who are not eligible for treatment on the NHS such as adult patients. This includes treatment with the state of the art technique of Invisalign using a series of invisible aligners, or with tooth-coloured fixed appliances which are less visible than conventional metal appliances. If you need to know anything more about the contract and the treatments we provide, please contact our Manager via the Contact page. |
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