Cost of dental treatment

There are 3 price bands in NHS dentistry, with the top one including crowns and dentures. I agree though Mishap it does seem quite a lot of money. I think the top band is a maximum of £300, but will check at some point.

I have had 3 crowns in the last 2 years each costing £200 plus on the NHS. DH can no longer travel to his NHS dentist and has just had a filling, one extraction and x-rays, antibiotics and 2 appointments at a private dentist.The total cost was £305 which I thought was very reasonable.

I don't think that's reasonable, annsixty! An extraction is (or should be) far cheaper than a crown, and a filling should only be around £50.

I always think that is why you see so many people who are clearly not well off with poor teeth, missing teeth etc they can't afford to have treatment.

I reckon teeth are worth every penny! Glasses and hearing aids can cost plenty. My mother always said that she was determined to be able to enjoy her food and would pay whatever it cost to maintain her gnashers! Our dentist runs a scheme where you pay so much a month. Currently I pay about £8.50 which covers 2 check ups a year and any work needing done as well as emergency dental cover too. 2 visits to dental hygienist included. I'm very happy with that situation.

I pay about £12 a month, which covers two checkups a year plus 2 hygienist appointments.

All other work has to be paid for - I think we get a small discount because we're on the plan.

You're very lucky, Jane10!

I'd like to pay monthly but as far as I'm aware my dentist doesn't have such a scheme.

I have far more gaps than I'd like as that was the cheapest option.

Whilst I agree with Jane10 first two lines, over the past 18 months or so I have had 8 extractions (£480) due to infected jaw caused, I believe by inept locus dentist breaking off the peg when trying to replace a new crown that fell off 7 times in 4 months (£350 for attempts, £219 for crown) plus new denture that had to be a private costing one as NHS denture wouldn't fit where infection had been (£500), plus hygienist x2 (£96)

Not a happy bunny, I have had really good teeth all my life and problems started when dentist of 35 years retired- I only had 2 fillings up to that point!

I am now waiting for second denture for lower jaw - NHS this time, a further £219
Grand total £1633 [OUCH]

My OH is with Denplan and pays £40 a month, as he is with a private dentist. It sounds a huge amount, but he has had loads of treatment in the last few years and I think he has had his money's worth, on the basis of the private amounts I was quoted today.

Mishap why did they want to take it out?

Because it fell to bits! There is not a lot of it left, but it can be crowned and that is what I wanted.

I can't eat with one side of my mouth at the moment; can't quite work out why though. Had an NHS check up and clean yesterday but the dentist can't see much wrong. Have got to use sensitive toothpaste for a few weeks [which I use anyway] and go back. Problem is that it's in an area where I had a root canal filling done a few years ago and a gold crown which, at the time was worth more than my car. Filling was done privately to save the tooth and the crown was done by my NHS dentist. If I have to I'll go back to the private dentist for treatment as he saves teeth that other dentists give up on. I've realised that, even with an NHS dentist I'm going tohave to make sure I have saved up a lot of money for future treatment. I so wish I wasn't one of the eat toffee then 'drill and fill' generation and am so glad that my children have very good teeth.

I didn't have a clue about NHS dentist costs........huge shock! Now dread every visit

My NHS dentist will save teeth when private ones will whip them out because they know most people can not/will not pay for a crown. I have been so lucky with my dentists as at almost 78 I have never lost a tooth.

WE are lucky to have a good NHS dentist in the village. He will always see you that day if you are in pain (and I know ). I am happy to pay the NHS fees. I am having some problems atm, but dentist said it would all be covered by my last session of treatment and I would not have any more to pay. Three crowns, two fillings, root canal treatment, x-rays etc and whatever he still has to do, all for £219. Dread to think what that would have been privately.

I have a partial upper denture,some crowns, and some of my own teeth. Problems started after I'd been on steroids for two years.
For comfort purposes my partial denture is made of chrome and is very lightweight and fine. Although I'm an NHS patient this was not available on NHS and cost me around £500.

Two weeks ago a crown sheared off at the gum and it wasn't really fit to be fitted with a new crown. Dentist was willing to try a new crown but wasn't optimistic of the outcome......So I decided to have a false tooth added to my existing chrome denture.

At the dentist for 9 am and had impressions done. A guy from the lab picked it up. I returned at 3pm for fitting. It looks great.
Total cost for false tooth addition on NHS was £30.
Well pleased.

Oh loopy what bad luck! I think my monthly payment is due to me being fortunate enough to have good teeth. Mr Jane10 has to pay a larger amount as his teeth are not in good shape. I was with this dentist's dad then she took over the practice. She's really good. Younger than me so I hope she'll see me out. She used to be our paper girl!

Pompa - you got multiple BOGOFFS there - I am only getting one crown for my £219!

My friend never used to let a dentist give her an anaesthetic -she felt it made the dentist really concentrate on what he was doing! Tough lady.

Much better value if you only go every twenty years

I had a wonderful dentist when I was a student. He never gave an anaesthetic injection and I never felt a thing. I don't think anyone used hypnosis in those days, but perhaps....

Has anyone ever had a tooth that's heat sensitive and uncomfortable to chew with that has resolved itself without dental treatment of some kind? I'm not sure that I can wait 8 weeks to see if my tooth gets better and, in the meantime it may be getting infected [just going to go and rub some more Sensodyne onto it]. I'll give it a couple of weeks I think, not 8.

T egan, try Colgate Pro something or another rather than the one you mentioned!

NHS dentists have no option about what they charge, the 3 banding system was introduced by Patricia Hewitt and is ridiculous! The same charge (£222.50 for treatment started after April 1st) is applicable for a one tooth denture and for full upper and lower dentures, as well as other things! It is the maximum any NHS patient should pay although some dentists seem to charge privately for a hygienist appointment - which appears to be against the rules but is widespread!

"Has anyone ever had a tooth that's heat sensitive and uncomfortable to chew with that has resolved itself without dental treatment of some kind?"

Sort of. My bottom left back tooth had a hole rotted into it by the wisdom tooth, so it got filled, and was fine for a while. Then it got sensitive to bite on, but the dentist couldn't find anything wrong. After about a year or two of complaining it resolved by itself and was OK for years.

Then one day the filling fell out and got replaced with a bigger one. That too was ok for while but then got painful to bite on. After a couple of years of the dentist telling me he could see nothing wrong I was all set to ask him to pull it out when it suddenly broke one day. The relief was instant, after years of jumping through the ceiling I could chew normally again.

That too got filled and was fine, but then one day the dentist told me the filling was leaking and needed to be replaced, but I was so reluctant to go fixing what ain't broke that I decided to leave it while it wasn't hurting.

After a while I decided not to leave it any longer but by then it was past filling, so I got a crown. Now the one with the crown seems to be rotting the one in front of it, just like the wisdom tooth did to the crowned one........