Dental costs.

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Steven
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Can I ask folks on here what they reckon about dental costs?
I went to the dentist last Friday with a broken molar. He's temporarily filled it for now. A five minute job, for which he relieved me of £44.
I've been told to make a booking for two weeks time to have that filling removed, and a crown fitted.
For this he will require me to hand over £520:eek::eek:
Is he taking the p###?
 
I just had a double crown fitted, I am with Denplan (£19/month) all I paid on top of this was for the lab fee for making the crown, which was £220.
 
You have some choices.

1) Suffer

2) Pay £520

3) Phone around and you will probably find someone who can do it for a little less.

4) Find an NHS Dentist (not easy) Crowns are available on the NHS (band 3) and cost up to £209.

5) Take a holiday to Budapest.
 
Tiz a rip off. I occasionally bite half way through ,my lower lip with canine tooth whilst eating which is extemely painful and makes people sitting near me wonder why I am suddenly angrily swearing at full volume whilst eating.
They offered me to fix it using an invisble brace which would cost £1500. Or, and I use their words, "only £150" a month.
Yeah great, only my second largest outlay per month after the mortgage. I'll carry on suffering thanks!
 
I am lucky to have a good NHS dentist. I had a check up during which he discovered a large cavity and said I needed a crown. Total price for the check up, temporary crown and final crown was £210. At my last dentist I was paying NHS prices for a check up but a filling was £120 as that was private.
 
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i have just gone private as my NHS Dentist wouldn't give antithetic during treatment if you wanted it it would cost more, he also had a habbit of saying you "can't have that done on the NHS" a filling at new dentist £94 and they are the white fillings. To the OP that sounds a good price if you are private.
 
Never had any problems with my NHS dentist. Does all the fillings, white or silver depending on where they are, jabs, denture etc etc.

Never been asked to pay over the NHS limits.

Since being made redundant I don't have to pay for any checkups, treatment etc. Having a canine and wisdom tooth taken out next Tuesday and a plate done a few weeks later (once healed) for the grand sum of £0.00.

Plenty of dentists advertising for NHS patients in this area now. A few years ago you were hard pressed to find one but just about every other one now says they have NHS vacancies.
 
My parents are on the dental plan thing, so they don't have to worry about the costs every time they go and get their teeth checked. I only the other hand, is a student and pay near enough £20 for every check up now. Just a 5 minute to say "Yes your teeth are great bye!, oh by the way £20 please" .

It kills me it really does.
 
A couple of years ago, I switched from a great private dentist to an NHS one and I'm going to go back to the private one as soon as I can arrange it - the NHS one is one of the rudest people I have ever had the misfortune to have to deal with; appointments were hard to get and there is little or no easy parking within a couple of minutes' walk - the Private one has several motorcycle spaces about 30s away (free) and he's a great guy - OK, not cheap but IMO, well worth the extra expense over the NHS chap. Going to cost a few bob to get my teeth back into some sort of shape
 
2blue4u said:
You have some choices.
4) Find an NHS Dentist (not easy)
Click to expand...

Must just be this area I guess but almost every dentist you drive past has big banners out side stating they're taking new NHS patients on. (Stoke/Newcastle)

I personally just go the emergency dentist when the pain is to bad. Think my dentist died before I started high school.
 
Plenty of NHS practices advertising for new patients here as well.

Just got a letter to reschedule my next appointment.. either take a locum or wait until my regular dentist is back from maternity leave. I think I'll wait.
 
I just find Dentistry one massive racket.I have had no end of problems with Dentists just wanting to make money. I find most of them,in fact all the ones I have dealings with, unethical and greedy .They want to sign patients up to private insurance so they have a known income at private rates.It is not possible for them to give more work than that covered by the premiums.Otherwise the insurance company will pull the plug on them.
If you don't sign up to their racket you find it is difficult to get appointments when you want them and you spend a lot of time in the waiting room while they deal with there insurance plan patients.
I tried to go private without signing up to the plan the Dentist was offering(advice from John Prescot and James Cran my MP) as a result the Dentist removed me from their practice.I realised it was because I had control of what was paid and what work was done, unlike the situation if I had signed up to their insurance scam,where they could nicely drip,drip from the insurance company,just keeping below the overall premium rate.
Under most NHS Dentists now,if you need a root canal filling they will pull the tooth instead of doing the root canal.The reason is that they only get paid the same as they do for an extraction as root canal.The root canal would take more than one visit.The extraction can be done in one visit.They (I think it is the BDA) have even produced a book for Dentists listing methods to make the most money from the NHS contract.
Believe me I have been through the mill with Dentists and they are Greedy. :bat:
 
Probably like many others I will go when I really need to. Worth noting as some do not seem to be aware of, that any work you have done and pay for, a clean by the hygenist is included in that price but a lot will not tell you that.
 
Both my dentist and optician are my customers, we have a sort of unwritten agreement ... they don't rip me off and their bills remain affordable! :D
 
I know someone that got their dental work done by a student dentist at a dental hospital for free or very cheaply. It was overseen and double checked by a real dentist and took longer, but they had no complaints.
 
I went this week,i use a private practise as i cannot find an NHS one.2 teeth removed and 3 fillings £830.Thankfully the only part that hurt was the price.
 
neil_g said:
its a rip off. one of several reasons why i havent been to the dentist for 12 years or so.
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So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
 
cambsno said:
So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I have a fab dentist.
:clap: :clap: :clap:
 
cambsno said:
So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
Click to expand...

they also make time for people.. i had a major panic attack when i went for a root canal filling. he was great with me. ( i am a pratt terrified of the dentist)
never will i go back to the NHS. back to see him on tuesday for a filling now not worried at all.
 
cambsno said:
So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
Click to expand...

Agree - when you consider just how long it takes to become a dentist as well - not like you can just go and buy a mirror on a stick and a drill from B&Q and start your own practice.
 
I have to admit that being totally dentist-phobic, I found a private dentist MILES from where I live who completely understands. In the last 18 months I have had a TON of work done. Yes it has cost me close to 3 grand, but it has literally changed my life.

End of sermon lol
 
cambsno said:
So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
Click to expand...

Ploddles said:
Totally agree. I have a fab dentist.
:clap: :clap: :clap:
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:clap::clap::clap::clap::clap: Well said above, the costs involved in dentistry are huge. People forget that they are undergoing surgery when receiving treatment from a dentist. There are regulations (and rightly so) left, right and centre, all of which cost. Insurances and material costs as well as staff and building costs soon add up. Forget about how many years training takes.
 
Dentists are a complete rip off though, no matter what sob story they trot out. A lot of fraud with something that lucrative too.
 
Laudrup said:
Dentists are a complete rip off though, no matter what sob story they trot out. A lot of fraud with something that lucrative too.
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Not at all a sweeping generalisation :|
 
No problems with my dentist, NHS and just had root treatment and crown fitted, included 4 visits several x-rays, total £209.

He also told me to only visit once a year as it was a waste of money going any more frequent.
 
I am dreading having to pay for a dentist, due to leave the military after 23yrs so have never paid a penny.

Luckily just had all relevant work done inc 2 new gold crown molars, probably in the region of £600 pounds each with all work.

hopefully i won't need any work for a while
 
Root canals never last for ever, so I can't be bothered to delay the inevitable and just get sedated and have them pulled.
 
viv1969 said:
Not at all a sweeping generalisation :|
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From The Telegraph last month:

An estimated one million “inappropriate” claims were submitted by dental surgeries in one year alone because dentists’ contracts are open to fraud.

A further £150 million could be lost to fraud before new contracts can be introduced, according to an inquiry by the NHS anti-crime watchdog.

An investigation by NHS Protect, the agency set up to tackle crime across the health service, uncovered what ministers called "appalling" levels of fraud.

In one year, 2009-10, an estimated £73.1 million was paid out for fraudulent claims from contractors for dental work that never happened.
Click to expand...
 
I don't think I'd ever want a dental "plan" as my guess is that premiums are set to cover what the "average" customer needs doing plus a healthy profit for the plan provider.

I went from the age of 18 to 45 without thankfully ever having to visit a dentist but eventually had to go due to breaking a molar on a bit of granary bread - I had about 4 visits in total as he thought it was just cracked and filled it initially but it was finally apparent that it was broken and not just cracked so had to come out.

Luckily I was not offered any expensive crowns or root canals and a work colleague was telling me horror stories of the cost of a crown he had had, but I still probably paid the best part of £300 for all the visits.
 
Oh this reminds me of something:

A Yorkshire man walks in to a dentist and asks how much for a tooth pulled?
Dentist says: £50

The Yorkshire man in shock exclaims "HOW MUCH, for a tooth? 1 tooth? for a tooth!!, how much for half the anaesthetic?

Dentist replies: aye there's a lot of pain pulling a tooth but for you £30

Yorkshire man shouts out; "HOW MUCH!!!!! OK how about with no the anaesthetic?"

Dentist replies: "are you mad? that's a lot of pain to go through without".
To which the Yorkshire man asks again how much?

Dentist replies: A Fiver!

Yorkshire Man: GREAT! book the wife in 3pm next Tuesday.
 
cambsno said:
So we are no different to the people who say £1500 for a wedding - rip off!

They have rent, rates, materials, training, etc... to pay for! We are quick to moan about people who want a wedding for £300 but quick to demand fillings for £10.
Click to expand...

Good point, when I had a major infection in my jaw (reason I had to have so much work done, a few teeth pulled and others totally overhauled) I would have sold my soul to make the pain go away.

Still, on private for a mouth load of work paid just over £300 for a whole mouth...
So £500 seems steep for a crown.
 
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Dental plans are designed not to make more money, but to provide a steady income stream. You only loose out if you do not turn up for the 2 check ups and cleans you've agreed to.
Only debate is if the check ups are necessary.
The other thing is unless your seeing the owner of the practice, the actual dentist is probably getting half of the fee after deductions.
 
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