NHS Vs Private composite filling - what's the difference

[jewel1968]

Have some erosion on front teeth and had Composit filling a few years ago which needs to be touched up or replaced. Went to dentist and they said that they could do it in NHS or private. Obviously massive difference in price. It is not clear to me what the difference is between private and NHS and my own research seems to suggest no difference. The description of the difference by dentist was very vague..Anybody got any knowledge? Thanks

[DishRanAwayWithTheSpoon]

Often NHS composite is 1 shade, quite dull, doesn't polish as well.

Private will give a better aesthetic result with shading, polishing etc. Often better range of opacity and translucency so it looks more like an actual tooth.

Generally private composite just looks better than NHS and there are techniques that can be used to give better shape that you wouldn't use on the nhs. It depends what type of composite the practice uses though

[jewel1968]

Ah thanks. That is very helpful. The NHS one I had before was fine visually.