Patients In Uproar Following Dental Fees Increase
Patients at a dental practice in Devon are up in arms after a fee increase was confirmed.
Angry patients are now threatening to avoid going to the dentist after Integrated Dental Holdings announced fee increases of almost 30 per cent; the firm has recently taken over Associated Dental Practice branches in Tiverton, Wellington and Crediton.
A spokesman for Integrated Dental Holdings said that the increases were necessary to cover elevated running costs.
One patient, who asked not to be named in an interview with the local press, said that he had paid £10 more for a dental hygiene session since IDH took over the former Associated Dental Practice in Tiverton and confirmed that patients were in uproar over the new fees, which are simply unaffordable for many patients. He also added that many of the older patients have said that they will forgo important hygiene sessions because they can no longer afford this treatment.
Customer care manager at IDH, Mike McKessy, said that the increases were essential due to heating, electricity and running costs, staff wages and the cost of new materials and equipment and stressed that sadly there was no option but to increase the cost of hygiene treatments. He said that the company had tried to maintain low costs, but now, as many businesses have found, these cannot be sustained.
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