Dental Care in Barking

More on my visit with Karen coming soon...in the meantime, I had my first encounter with Britain's dental care system this morning and was quite favourably impressed. I arrived at 8:25 for my appointment and spent about 10 minutes filling out information forms. Then I had a consultation with the dentist (though no cleaning), an x-ray, and another appointment to fill a small cavity. Payment for the entire thing (including the upcoming filling appointment) came to 46.50, and I walked out of there at about 9:00. Dental health is considered as part of the National Health Service, which I pay for out of my income, and as such I am entitled to relatively inexpensive dental care. 16.50 for a basic consultation and/or cleaning, 46.50 for fillings, x-rays, root canals and the like, and 198.50 for crowns and other major work. I'm thinking any major dental work I need done I should do before I return home to Canada!