Plan A or Plan B?
What Plan A and Plan B cover, how much they save against paying per visit, what they leave out, and which kind of patient each is designed for.
Does a Dental Membership Plan Actually Save You Money?
For anyone attending every six months, it normally does. At Peninsula Dentists on Greenwich Peninsula, Plan A costs £24.10 monthly for a year's worth of routine care (two dental examinations, a pair of small X-rays and two Airflow hygiene visits) that would cost £348 at standard fees, a saving of £58.80. Plan B, at £40.16 monthly, doubles the hygiene visits to four: £616 of care for a saving of £134.08. Members also get emergency appointments at no charge, priority appointments, cover abroad and 10% off most private treatment. Coming just once a year? Paying per visit may work out cheaper.
What You Get on Each Plan
| Feature | Plan A | Plan B |
|---|---|---|
| Per month | £24.10 | £40.16 |
| Dental examinations a year | 2 | 2 |
| Small X-rays a year | 2 | 2 |
| Airflow hygiene visits a year | 2 | 4 |
| Emergency appointments | Included | Included |
| Off most private treatment | 10% | 10% |
The plans differ in one way only: the number of hygiene appointments. Plan A follows the familiar six-monthly pattern, pairing each dental examination with a hygiene visit. Plan B adds two more hygiene visits, so you're seen every three months, which suits mouths that need closer care. Dental examinations are with your dentist, and hygiene visits are with Stefanie Goodall, our dental hygienist. Each hygiene visit on either plan is a Diamond Smile Clean with Airflow, which uses a fine jet of warm water, air and powder to lift plaque and staining. We'll book your next appointment before you leave.
What Each Plan Saves
| Per year | Paying per visit | Plan cost | Saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan A (two of each: dental examination, small X-ray, Airflow clean) | £348 | £289.20 | £58.80 |
| Plan B (as Plan A, with four Airflow cleans instead of two) | £616 | £481.92 | £134.08 |
These use our current fees: £30 for a dental examination, £10 for a small X-ray and £134 for a hygiene visit with Airflow, and they don't yet count the 10% discount.2 On routine care alone the saving is fairly small. The real value shows up elsewhere: an emergency appointment, otherwise £70, costs you nothing, and fillings, crowns, root canals, extended hygiene sessions and whitening are all 10% cheaper. A single molar root canal at £711 rather than £790 saves more than Plan A's whole routine-care saving.
Not Sure Which Plan Fits?
Book a dental examination and we'll suggest Plan A or Plan B based on your teeth and gums.
Other Member Benefits
- Registration with the practice and a regular dentist
- Priority when booking appointments
- Out-of-hours access when we're closed
- Emergency appointments at no charge, usually £70
- Worldwide emergency cover for dental problems while you're travelling
- 10% off private treatment, except extensive cosmetic work, implants and orthodontics
Our fees page lists every member price in its own column. Some examples: a 60-minute deep clean drops from £165 to £149, each stage of gum treatment from £100 to £90, a back-tooth ceramic crown from £650 to £585, Boutique home whitening from £350 to £315, and a night guard from £135 to £122.
Choosing Between the Two
Plan A is for people whose teeth and gums are in good shape and who'd like their dental examinations and hygiene visits taken care of, with nothing to pay at the desk. For a healthy mouth, a hygiene visit every six months is the standard interval.
Plan B is designed for people with gum disease, dental implants or a full-arch bridge, and for anyone who builds up tartar quickly. In each case we generally advise a hygiene visit every three months, because plaque sitting around gums, implants and bridgework is what leads to trouble, and cleaning at that interval keeps it under control. Since the implant guarantee is a five-year guarantee for non-smokers who keep up three-monthly hygiene visits, implant patients are naturally suited to Plan B. If you're unsure, we'll recommend one at your dental examination, and you can switch later if your needs change. For more on why three-monthly cleaning matters, read our guide to gum disease.
What the Plans Don't Cover
Knowing the limits is just as useful as knowing the benefits:
- No discount on implants, Invisalign, composite bonding or veneers, because extensive cosmetic treatment, implants and orthodontics are excluded. Whitening on its own does qualify.
- CT scans and larger X-rays sit outside the two small X-rays. When you need one, members pay the reduced price: a CT scan is £108 instead of £120.
- Extended hygiene appointments, for instance an hour-long deep clean or staged gum treatment, are charged separately at the member rate.
- Restorative work, from fillings and crowns to root canals, is paid for at the time, less 10%.
Put simply, the plan pays for prevention and reduces the cost of repairs. It doesn't cap what you'd spend if you needed a lot of work: treatment is charged as it's carried out, at member prices, and the fee is always in writing before we begin.
When Paying per Visit Makes More Sense
A plan isn't right for everyone. If you visit annually, one dental examination plus one Airflow clean totals £164, which undercuts twelve months of Plan A at £289.20. Twice-yearly dental examinations with a standard Classic Smile Clean each time add up to £258, not far below Plan A even before you add X-rays, free emergency appointments and the discount.
Membership pays off if you value regular Airflow cleans, priority booking and 10% off private treatment, and you'll turn up for the visits you're paying for. If you're not sure you will, paying as you go is a perfectly good option. For children, ask us which works out better; a child examination is £28 on a pay-per-visit basis. Of the practices around Greenwich and SE London we checked in October 2026, only one other publishes a price for its plan at all, so you can compare ours openly before you join.
Joining
Signing up online takes about five minutes and is done directly with Ident, the company that administers our plans. Fill in your details, select a dentist and a plan, decide between monthly and annual payment, and set up a Direct Debit (the Direct Debit Guarantee applies). From then on, appointments are booked just as they always would be.
New to us, or undecided between the two? Start by booking a dental examination. We'll look at your teeth and gums, see how quickly plaque and tartar build up, and recommend Plan A or Plan B. For questions about an existing plan, or to change it, call reception on 020 8788 6688. As Ident runs the plans, your payments go to Ident rather than to the practice.
Questions
This guide explains the options in general terms. Only an examination can tell you which of them suits your own teeth.