Private dentist charges

Renata1079 Your story is my story. For 30 years we had a private dentist and paid as we went and I am sure we saved on it.

We did the same with private health insurance. The cost was reasonable until we reached 70 and then rocketted, so we cancelled the health insurance and opened a Building Society Account that we call our health fund and each month we transferred into it the amount we paid for private health insurance before we were 70. We have never raised our monthly payment. Nearly 15 years later this account now holds a substantial sum.

We have drawn on it for a number of minor medical problems and it paid for a tooth implant. What is more the account holds a big enough balance to cover something like hip surgery, if ever needed.

The biggest bonus is that all the money in the account belongs to us and whatever sum of money is in it when we die will form part of our estate. It will not all be in the bank account of a health insurer.

I started out with a chipped tooth 18 months ago, nhs done it 3 times, but it kept coming off, they wanted to pull it out, ended up going private, had other work done apparently i needed it, £2,000 over 12 mths...OMG...and apparently since I last went in March, his prices have gone up...HORRENDOUS

I have NHS dentist, but i had to pay £175 for sons filling & check up last year, even though he's a student(They sent him HC3 by mistake, not HC2 as he had year before) we did not know it was a mistake, so paid it.By time we found out it was too late to reclaim it.I had mentioned it at time but receptionist said ''they'd take care of it"🤨

A friend of my elder son paid a bill of over £600 recently for a check & some teeth removing.

I pay more than Extratime but my current private dentist actually charges less than the one near our old home. The hygeinist costs slightly more than the old one, but is the best (ie most pain-free!) that I've ever had.
I don't begrudge the money spent on a good dentist, and ours only charges me around the NHS rate for replacement fillings so I can't complain.

Agree with you Harris27, those prices are v good.
I’ve just paid £78 for hygienist and £62 for dental check up. Happy with the service both provide so, although it’s expensive for the time they take, I won’t be looking elsewhere.

Quite frankly, having received excellent service from NHS dentists from childhood, I was astonished by the quotes given to me when private dentistry took over. Their costs also varied between practices, rather than having standard prices across the sector. None of them were prepared to carry out both the inspection of my teeth AND the scale and polish aspect. Eventually I found Denplan, which has transparent charges and my dentist in the scheme provides both services : inspection of my teeth and care of the hygiene aspects.

I have an NHS dentist but the basic check up is now much more expensive and last time I said no to the scale and polish as they wanted another £70!
When I was working I had Benendon healthcare cover so the dentist was usually free except when I needed a crown after breaking a filling. Now I am retired I have to pay and the same with glasses. I used to have a new pair every year but certainly can't afford that now.

I have an NHS dentist who is great and I go every 9 months, my choice! I had to have a crown and she quoted 3 prices so I chose £350 ! I am in Sovereign health care at £18 per month and got half back !
The thought of false teeth horrifies me so I go to the dentist regularly despite hating it !!

I am going to say something I have said on other threads. It is easy to complain that charges are high but there is so much more to having a tooth check or than just time.

Dentists usually rent their premises and rents vary huely across the country, they need to make sure that the premises are fitted using specialist euipment that makes it easy to keep clean, in other words, hospital grade fittings and fittings, including flooring and wall coverings, then there is the actual euipment. Everything has to be maintained, any scuff or wear on the dentists couch and it will need to be replaced for hygiene reasons, then thee is a specialist euipment drills, xray euipment , which probably has to be replaced every 4 or 5 years. then there are ancillary staff, dental assistants, hygenists, receptionists, probably an administrator. It all mounts up. Most of the cost of your dental appointment is overheads.

Maybe I should have headed the thread” Are you happy with your dentist’s treatment?”

My main concern was not the cost so much as the time the dentist took to check my teeth and clean them. I would be happy to pay more if I felt that my teeth had been throughly checked and cleaned. I am paying for a professional service and expect the care and attention that that should come with.

Judging from the replies, there is a vast variance of private dentist charges and treatment across the country. In fact in my own town depending on the area, the charges vary greatly.
So presumably the charges are guided to some extent by how much patients are willing/ able to pay?

Incidentally my dental practice also offers implants, teeth whitening and Botox so it has become a beauty salon too!

I pay £75 for a check up and £75 for a clean every six months.

M0nica Most of the cost of your dental appointment is overheads.

Absolutely agree with this M0nica.
My dentist says it’s like costing for weddings, eg
flowers £5 a posy, wedding flowers? Add a 0 onto that.
Widget £10, dental widget? That’ll be £50 at a special price to you.
He is with the patients in feeling outraged by the blatant exploitation.

Everything in our surgery has been streamlined as much as possible.

I also bear in mind that he is a very highly qualified professional doing an extremely stressful job. To keep up to date requires training that costs £1000’s a year for both dentists and support staff.
I have total faith in my dental team and am happy ( and lucky enough to be able to afford) to pay their fees.

Has anybody found a good private dentist in Eastbourne ?

Private dental care that is good and not too expensive in or around Eastbourne ?

My dh had been to two different private dentists over the years while i have always been to the same nhs dentist.

Both my dh dentists kept recommending treatments even though dh had no problem . The last one suggested repeating something which had already been done at some expense by them not long before.

I managed to get my nhs dentist to take him on , he said nothing about the treatment his previous dentist had suggested wanting to see if the excellent nhs dentist would mention it too, she didn’t so he asked her about it. She said it was minor and she would keep an eye on it. 15 years later all is still well.

Can’t help thinking private dentists , rather like the old school dentists in the 50 s who were paid per treatment filled ever y tooth in most children’s heads before they left primary school, that some private dentists ‘look’ fir work by suggesting this that or the other which may or may not be needed.

I know It’s difficult but not impossible to find an nhs dentist.

After 30 years with the same private dentist. Never over sold treatments, nor pressurised into any,I have just had my first NHS check up.

The dentist xrayed me, looked at the xray briefly did an inventory of the teeth I have and where existing fillings are - and that was that, thank you and goodbye.

She failed to notice that I do not have a' bottom right one'. Not extracted, it just never grew. When I drew her attention to this, she argued with me over it, but then stopped when she realised I was correct.

For the next six months I will be researching independent private dentistry only practices, not chain dentists like BUPA in order to get the kind of dental treatment I am accustomed to.

The facts of hte matter are that some private dentists are out for all they can get, especially the chain dentist - sBUPA and the like - and some NHS dentists are pretty rubbish as well.

It is up to us, whichever way we go to make sure we get proper treatment with out skimping (NHS) or pushing unnecessary treatments (private).

I think like other uasi medical services,like vets that have been taken over, formed into chains and then sold on, they are driven by selling extra services to patients that they do not need and are eye watering expensive. Staff are also under pressure to sell extra services.

I had an emergency filling at BUPA: a front tooth, filling small needing neither drilling not painkillers, just cleaning with a probe and a dob of filler. The dentist suddenly turned to me and said we need to do an xray. I am not sure the part of my mouth he xrayed would have included the refilled tooth, but when I got to the till, the bill was over £300.

I think the prices are extortionate. Can only get private. I have Denplan but now she keeps insisting I need fillings at the base of 4 gums as gums receding. Had it done 3 times but they fall off every few months. I said what's the point and it's expensive. She said these types of fillings at the base do tend to fall off. I said well I couldn't afford to keep doing it . Which she didn't like. A bit like vets...the government are trying to cap their charges (pardon the pun) Think they should do the same thing with dentists.