What's the difference?

For a long time I have struggled to answer the question of what the difference between NHS and private dental practice is. I have met many dentists who have wondered the same, most opinions resting on the spectrum ranging from some thinking that the difference is only one of nomenclature, others feeling the difference being that patients become ‘customers’ or ‘clients’.

I lead a double life, half the week practising as an NHS practitioner in a deprived area and the other half working privately, treating patients who either are part of a Denplan plan or pay fee-per-item. I suppose I should make it clear that I don’t think I have a definitive answer to the question of what the difference between the two is, but I like to think that my dichotomous existence gives me perspective of the two in contrast.

In the dental press it is often implied that the aspiration for all practitioners should be to become private dentists at some stage of their career, treating patients who pay the full cost of their treatment where targets are purely those that are self-imposed. I once read an article which spoke of the transition from NHS to private as being like, “casting off shackles”. Other articles I have come across suggest that the “quality” of patients is different between private and NHS with private patients being somehow nicer to treat. I completely disagree with this sentiment.