denplan

Supplementary Insurance: immediate help for dental emergencies
As a Denplan patient, you are entitled to our Supplementary Insurance Benefits at no extra cost. Our Supplementary Insurance gives you important extra protection - covering you for the costs of temporary emergency dental treatment anywhere in the world if you can't get to see your own Denplan dentist.

Help is only a phone call away
All you need to do is call our 24 hour Helpline and we will put you in touch with a dentist who can give you help, advice or treatment. For more information, please visit The Denplan Emergency Helpline section below.

• The Denplan Emergency Helpline is available to patients who are away from home or have difficulty in contacting their own dentist or their dentists’ emergency cover.

• In the event of a dental emergency, Denplan have a 24 hour, world-wide Emergency Helpline, which is available 365 days a year.

• All you need to do is call our 24 hour Helpline on the numbers below and we’ll put you in touch with a dentist who can give you help, advice or treatment.

If you're in the UK, please call:
0800 844999

If you're outside the UK, please call:
+44 1962 844999

What should I do if I have a dental emergency in the UK?

• If you are away from your registered dentist and require emergency dental treatment, the Denplan Emergency Helpline will endeavour to source you an appointment with a local Denplan dentist.

• The dentist may ask you to sign a form and he will claim directly from Denplan for your treatment. Alternatively, you may be asked to pay at the time of treatment and you can then submit a claim to Denplan.

• If you are at home, but cannot access your own dentist or their arranged cover, the Denplan Emergency Helpline will again endeavour to source a local dentist for you.

What should I do if I have a dental emergency outside the UK?
Denplan Ltd is primarily a UK based company. However:

• Should you be planning a trip overseas, Denplan can provide you with a list of dentists in the locality. Please contact the Insurance team who will be able to help.

• You can call the Denplan International Helpline where an operator will endeavour to source a local dentist where you are staying, and either make the appointment for you ( where language barriers do not exist) or provide you with details of three dentists.

• Denplan patients may prefer to visit a dentist through a recommendation by family, friends or as suggested by the hotel they may be staying in.

Please note that this service is only available to patients registered with either Denplan Care, Denplan Excel, Denplan Essentials or Dental plans for groups and is not available to non-registered patients.

The fact that you are being treated by a Denplan Excel Quality Assured dentist means that you will experience the highest standards of care and professionalism available today

Quality care assured
Your dentist recognises that you deserve the very best dental healthcare and is working harder than ever to make sure you receive it. To demonstrate this commitment to quality, your dentist has joined the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme which ensures that they are reaching a set of exacting standards in the care and service they provide to you.

What can I expect?
The Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme aims to improve communication between you and your dentist. You will receive clear information about your dental care and treatments available and will be involved in any decisions made about the care of your teeth and gums. The Patients Association has worked closely with dentists and Denplan to support the development of the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme and believes that it offers significant benefits for both dentists and patients. This is the only such programme officially approved by the Patients Association.

Better evaluation
What’s an Oral Health Score?
Denplan Excel dentists use an innovative system for methodically reviewing the health of your teeth and mouth. This system is known as the Oral Health Score©. Your dentist will assess key aspects of your oral health, checking the health of your gums and whether any of your teeth are showing signs of wear. They will also ask for your views on your oral health and how you would like it to change.

Using a consistent set of calculations, your dentist will produce an overall ‘score’, out of 100, which indicates how healthy your mouth is. The higher the score the better your oral health is. You will be given an Oral Health Score© card which clearly explains what your score is. This process is ongoing and your score will be updated on future visits. Use of the Oral Health Score© helps your dentist evaluate the effectiveness of treatment provided. It helps you understand how your oral health is changing and what steps could be taken to improve it.

Improved communication
How will I be kept informed?
An important part of the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme is to improve communication between you and your dentist. By joining the programme, your dentist has committed to keep you well informed about your care and treatment. To help achieve this, a special range of patient information is available which explains different treatments and procedures, as well as giving advice on maintaining your oral health. These leaflets are written by the British Dental Health Foundation and approved by the Plain English Campaign, so they are very clear and easy to understand. What’s more, you can take them away from the practice to read at your leisure. When deciding the right course of treatment for you, your dentist will always fully explain the situation, discuss the options and take your desires and opinion into account.

Meeting quality standards
Who checks that my dentist is providing quality care?
Every 18 months an independent dental advisor will visit your practice to ensure that all the standards of the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme are being met. The advisor will also check that your practice is complying with statutory regulations and recommendations for best practice in dentistry. These assessment visits are unique to the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme and provide assurance that your dentist is giving you the very best care and service available and that they are committed to an ongoing programme of improvement.

Do my opinions count?
Receiving care from a Denplan Excel Quality Assured dentist means that you will have the chance to give your feedback on the care and service your practice provides. Regular Patient Satisfaction Surveys are conducted and you may be invited to take part. You will be sent a questionnaire asking you to mark how satisfied you are with various aspects of your dental care and the quality of the service you receive. The questionnaires are totally confidential and your individual responses will not be seen by your dentist. The surveys – the largest undertaken in the dental profession – are managed by an independent market research company who analyse the results and prepare reports for your dental practice. The information provides an important measure for your dentist and allows them to work on further improvements in their practice, taking into account what you and other patients say about them.

Quality standards and principles
What is my dentist committing to by joining the programme?
Any dentist can apply to join the Denplan Excel Quality Assurance Programme. However, before they become accredited they must demonstrate that they are meeting certain standards and adhering to the following principles:

• WE COMMIT to the measurement of clinical effectiveness and oral health and ensure this is communicated to patients*, both individually and as a group

• WE WILL SUPPORT patients* in knowing what is being done and why to ensure their best opportunity for improving oral health

• WE WILL KNOW and fully record the state of the oral health of all our patients* and involve patients’* fully in decisions regarding their ongoing care and treatment

• WE CARE what our patients* feel and think about the practice and will listen and act upon their views and opinions

• WE ARE COMMITTED to opening our practice and procedures to regular independent monitoring and to act upon the results

• WE UNDERTAKE to practise using the most appropriate procedures and dental knowledge and to ensure both the dentist and practice team are up-to-date with the latest dental and customer care techniques.

*and to parent/carers as appropriate, where the patient is a child.

Younger patients need special treatment
Your dentist knows that younger patients need special care because they have their whole lives ahead of them.

Although dental health in Britain has become much better in the last 20 years, did you know that a third of 5 year olds and half of all 15 year olds already have some tooth decay?*

Your dentist is part of a group of dentists across the country who have commited to help the younger patients of today to really have a smile for life.

Denplan Excel for Children is an innovative programme to help dentists and their younger patients achieve this. Your dentist is working with experts in children’s dentistry in the UK and across the world, to provide the very best treatment and advice for younger patients.

*Source: UK Children's Dental Health Survey 2003.

What is Denplan Excel for Children?
It is a promise that follows certain quality standards and principles.

Denplan want dentists to have the best care for the teeth, gums and smiles of their younger patients. In fact we want to play our part in their overall health and happiness.

To do this we need to know exactly what is proven to be the best quality in childrens’ dental care.

Oral Wellbeing Score for Children©
We will ask you either as a younger patient or parent/carer on your child’s behalf, some questions on how they feel about their teeth and smile. This is called the Oral Wellbeing Score for Children©.

Oral Health Score for Children©
The dentist will also give you or your child a score out of 100 which will help you to know how healthy your mouth or your child’s mouth is and what you could do if anything to improve it. The Oral Health Score for Children© will also provide you with a way of monitoring how you or your child's mouth health changes over time. These questions and scores help you and your dentist to see how well you or your child are doing and what can be done to improve it.

For example:

• Your dentist may say your teeth are healthy, but you don't like your smile. You might then need to talk about what could be done

• If you or your child's teeth are healthy the dentist may think that they won't stay that way (maybe because of what you eat, or the way you clean your teeth). This would need to be looked at. Your dentist needs to know everything they can to help keep teeth healthy.

We confirm our willingness to be involved in the Denplan Excel Accreditation Programme and confirm that we have read, understood and will commit to a consistent Statement of Principles:

• We commit to the measurement of clinical effectiveness and oral health and ensure this is communicated to patients*, both individually and as a group

• We will support patients* in knowing what is being done and why to ensure their best opportunity for improving oral health

• We will know and fully record the state of the oral health of all our patients* and involve patients* fully in decisions regarding their ongoing care and treatment

• We care what our patients* feel and think about the practice and will listen and act upon their views and opinions

• We are committed to opening our practice and procedures to regular independent monitoring and to act upon the results

• We undertake to practise using the most appropriate procedures and dental knowledge and to ensure both the dentist and practice team are up-to-date with the latest dental and customer care techniques.

*and parents/carers as appropriate, where the patient is a child.