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General health

anyone had a crown with an nhs dentist?

14 replies

Moomin · 15/05/2006 13:35

i've just managed to get a place with an nhs dentist. i asked him about getting a crown for one of my front teeth. the nerve is dead after knocking it badly years ago and its quite discoloured. he tried to discourage me saying on the nhs the colour match wouldn't be as good as private. but surely if it IS a crap match i could always go private afterwards? and it can't be any crapper than the colour it is now!

was he just trying to put me off cos of the cost? shall i go back and insist we take it further? has anyone got an nhs crown they are happy with?

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jellyjelly · 15/05/2006 13:36

I had a crown as a kid which i still have now. It genereally isd a good match but where the nerve is dead it looks a bit black at the top and now so good in prictures. But ok

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jellyjelly · 15/05/2006 13:37

Meant to say that if you have a problem with it and it then gets removed you get a really horrid coloured temp one.

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BettySpaghetti · 15/05/2006 13:39

How long do you have to have the temporary one in? Its just I'm wondering whether mine need replacing (well they do need replacing but I'm a wimp!)

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booge · 15/05/2006 14:03

I dived in to a swimming pool at 14 and knocked my front teeth, I eventually had three crowns on the nhs in the front. They didn't match each other or my teeth and were horrible, eventually a black line appeared at the top of the crowns where the base metal started to show as my gums have receeded a bit with age. (The porcelain only goes up so far) By this time 15 years later I rarely smiled properly cos I hated my teeth so much. I spoke to the dentist about getting them replaced and he told me that on the nhs I would have the same type of crown where the black metal would show eventually and although they would match each other the match to my real teeth would probably be no better than last time.

I bit the bullet and went private, the crowns were twice the price but they are all porcelain and match my teeth beautifully. I also had my teeth whitened and gave up smoking at the same time. The crowns were twice the price as those on the NHS but it was the best money I've ever spent. Particularly as I got married a year later and was able to smile properly in my wedding photos.

If it's only discolouration that is the problem I think a veneer is enough. My private dentist charges 300-350 for those, I don't know what they are on the nhs. With a veneer you keep most of your real tooth underneath which is better than a crown.

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booge · 15/05/2006 14:05

I had temporary ones for just over a week and even those were better than my old crowns.

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Moomin · 15/05/2006 16:47

thats interesting booge, thank you. think i might have have the whole crown. the tooth is actually very slowly slipping out of my gums (which is nice). my old private dentist filed it off for me so that its level with the others as it used to be very slightly lower than the others. he said that eventually it would need replacing altogether, so i think a crown is the way to go.

i havent told my old private dentist that i've got an nhs one now. would the private one still do the crown for me? or would i do it at the new dentist as a private treatment?

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booge · 16/05/2006 07:41

I think a private dentist will always treat you, it's all about the money after all. I only got the cosmetic work done with mine and then went back to an NHS one for routine check ups etc.

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jellyjelly · 16/05/2006 10:20

think i had it for about a week when i had to have a root canal on it but i was only about 7-10 yrs, i can still see it in pictures as the school done them at that time.

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munchie · 16/05/2006 10:54

I have 12 crowns which were all done by NHS dentist when I was 16. I will be 38 at the end of this month and I can honestly say hand on heart that it was the best thing I ever did. I have had a couple of them replaced over the years again on the NHS and they can match them colour wise to your own teeth. My dentist had a little chart with different colours of teeth and we chose the best one together. Hope this helps.

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Polgara2 · 16/05/2006 12:32

I have 2 NHS crowns and they are a perfect match!!

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sfxmum · 16/05/2006 12:49

sorry hijack

polgara! that names takes me back, surely not the same (probably means nothing to you sorry)

btw can't even find a nhs dentist let alone have some work done...

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Polgara2 · 16/05/2006 12:53

Sorry but you're right - it means nothing . BTW what are we talking about?

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sfxmum · 16/05/2006 14:49

oh nothing really just another board before babies where i spent way too much time

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Moomin · 16/05/2006 16:19

i only got the nhs dentist because my cousin is a receptionist there and put my name on the files ! officially they weren't taking on any more nhs patients after xmas but she snuck me on in january. it's still a 6 mile drive. there's nothing otherwise for about 15 miles from what other people have told me.

argh - am torn now as to what to do. Polgara2 when did you have yours done? recently?