Dental prices - NHS / Private

There aren't dental hospitals everywhere gh.

There has been a move to much more specialist practices recently. Dentistry is an easy thing for successive governments to mess about with. There are independent review boards that recommend increases in pay but are largely ignored and budget allocations are done locally by people with no knowledge of the profession.

My daughter was in agony with a wisdom tooth a few months ago, couldn`t get her in to see anybody for love nor money. I paid for her to go privately in the end as I couldn`t stand to see her suffering a minute longer. Found a wonderful dentist who was skilled in dental surgery also. He extracted it, put stitches in and a course of antibiotics as my daughter also had a nasty infection. Worth every penny!

I was a private dental patient due to getting implants. At the same time, the dentist gave me what is called a telescopic crown. He was German, and I know that he still used German
‘ fittings ‘, travelling back there regularly for that purpose. He sold the business here, and I then became an nhs patient. I had to have root canal treatment on this crown last February, just before lockdown, and new dentist told me that because of the type of crown used, he wouldn’t be able to do it on the nhs. I’ve just checked my bank statement, and it cost £280.

I’m beginning to wonder now if the receptionist mistakenly charged me the nhs rate!

I have Practice Plan which costs I think £ 200 a year its well worth it and unless there is anything do be done it doesnt cost anything each visit,I even had x rays done last visit and didnt pay anything.I visit my Dentist twice a year and the hygienist each time.

I would and did after 2 teeth out recently , go to a really good dental technician privately , after having the tooth out and antibiotics on NHS and get a new plate would be cheaper than dentist -but get a quite first . But that’s just what I would do -good luck ?

I'm with Denplan, £14 per month for 2 inspections and 2 hygienist treatments per annum plus X Ray's, 20% off treatment and it includes insurance for emergency treatment overseas.
A crown (molar) is going to cost about £550 with discount.

There is no ' in the plural of X-Ray, autocorrect.

My dentist changed to Denplan a number of years ago and as I ve always needed a lot of dental work I felt it was worth it to pay a monthly fee to cover most treatment. During lockdown this has really paid off as I had a broken crown and needed root canal work and a new crown . Because I was with Denplan the only cost was the crown and lab services, which was £150

About right I would think, maybe even cheaper than most. I paid a similar sum for similar work almost 4 years ago.
Specialist work does cost a lot, but in my opinion it is better than the alternative. (Lose the tooth and the bridge too)?

After we moved we carried on driving back 50 miles to our previous brilliant NHS dentist, until he took early retirement. He loved doing complicated work, eg rebuilding teeth rather than extraction. DH had a lot of work done by him including crowns and root canal treatment over the years. We managed to find a new NHS dentist here and had check ups, but they wouldn’t do a scale and polish within the band A treatment, and you were expected to pay £50 for the hygienist to do that ( torture!).
Then came lockdown. Eventually I had a further check up, but DH, who had an outstanding appointment for more work, was not contacted, so eventually he decided to go private. He has paid about £1300 for a series of treatments, including three extractions and being fitted for a partial denture, but he thinks it is well worth it. He is being treated “as a gentleman by a gentleman”, as he puts it, by a very experienced man who he trusts, and is very pleased with his decision. I think he would still be waiting to get this done on the NHS.
I guess this is the way things are going to go, hoping that more and more people will get tired of waiting for all kinds of treatments, not just dental, and go private if they can afford it.

Shirls52000

My dentist changed to Denplan a number of years ago and as I ve always needed a lot of dental work I felt it was worth it to pay a monthly fee to cover most treatment. During lockdown this has really paid off as I had a broken crown and needed root canal work and a new crown . Because I was with Denplan the only cost was the crown and lab services, which was £150

I wonder why it varies so much?

Thats about average.

Mine will be about £550

calistemon our Denplan includes everything other than the lab fee. Maybe you are on something similar with another company? My brother is on a plan that sounds like that.

I contacted the authority in charge of primary health care and asked them about a similar dilemma ie referral for a specialist private treatment or extractions.
This dentist, though nhs, said he didn’t “do” extractions.

Primary healthcare told me that the nhs dentist is supposed to do what is deemed necessary which in my case was referral to an nhs dental teaching hospital hygienist for a deep clean.

I have a policy with Simply Health for 2 of us it is about £35 a month. When we get big bills like this a large percentage is repaid to us by the policy. This avoids surprise big bills. If the alternative is extraction missing teeth can be very ageing according to where there are in the mouth. I would rather pay for Private Dental Care than fancy face creams or other cosmetics.

NHS dentists will not do root canal fillings according to our NHS dentist as it is too expensive for them. I had a crown which my grandaughter knocked out and it caused an abscess. It was right in the front of my mouth and nothing would persuade my dentist to root fill it. He would give me plastic dentures but that was it. I chose to pay for an implant but it nearly bankrupted me.

When I was told a broken tooth could not be repaired I started to ask why everything had to end in extraction on the NHS. I Was told that there is no remedial or preventative work available to those over pension age.

I don’t know if this is true but all the older people I know have moved to private treatment.

Have you thought about going abroad for treatment? I know someone who went to Hungary on an all in dental package for implants and was very satisfied.

I think the older you are, your gums are thinner and not implant-friendly. That’s what I was told …

Shinyredcar

When I was told a broken tooth could not be repaired I started to ask why everything had to end in extraction on the NHS. I Was told that there is no remedial or preventative work available to those over pension age.

I don’t know if this is true but all the older people I know have moved to private treatment.

They used to fit crowns on the NHS a few years ago, I didn't realise they had stopped doing that.

crazyH

I think the older you are, your gums are thinner and not implant-friendly. That’s what I was told …

DH had one done only a little while ago.
They do have to make sure the jawbone is sufficiently strong, I think.

kittylester

calistemon our Denplan includes everything other than the lab fee. Maybe you are on something similar with another company? My brother is on a plan that sounds like that.

I'll check, kittylester

LuckyDuck

My daughter was in agony with a wisdom tooth a few months ago, couldn`t get her in to see anybody for love nor money. I paid for her to go privately in the end as I couldn`t stand to see her suffering a minute longer. Found a wonderful dentist who was skilled in dental surgery also. He extracted it, put stitches in and a course of antibiotics as my daughter also had a nasty infection. Worth every penny!

Great post.
I’m more than happy to pay and have spent a small fortune in recent years. No regrets.