Can anyone else not afford the dentist anymore?

I’ve got an NHS dentist (and the DC’s who have both had orthodontic work). She usually says she’ll do an X-ray but I tend to decline and maybe have every 2 years.

i pay separately for a hygienist twice a year which I think is about £80

Floss twice a day and teach the kids!

Those prices are wild!!
where I work a private check up is £40. We take x rays on average every 2 years (it’s different if you have a high decay rate) we don’t charge extra for them. Our hygienist is £90 for half an hour. Our maximum price for a composite filling in a back tooth is £220 but that’s for a huge filling!! Most people pay between £110 and £150 for your small to average size filling!

Wow no way should a filling cost £600! I go to a private dentist and a filling is more like £150-200 depending on what the filling size and composition is. I would refuse X-rays if you don't have any particular issues, no need for them every visit!

I have denplan care but used another dentist for a root canal and crown yesterday. Nearly £2000 which is my monthly wage

Absolutely not!

That's crazy. I pay £20 a month which covers a check up with a clean incl xrays every 6 months. If I need anything more done there's finance options which are 0% interest for first 3 months. It's really a false economy to not go as a dental emergency can be in thousands & is likely if you get older with no check ups.

Indeed. My private dentist is even cheaper than yours.

The OP seems to be going to a very expensive one.

That makes more sense. I got an implant as my dentist advised against a bridge as he felt it would damage the teeth either side in the long term.

I do think sometimes some things get a bit lost in translation. Treatments and costs get mixed up. It’s possible that 4k was for an implant because possibly a bridge was not suitable/wouldn’t work.

I drive 4 hours to my old dentist and stay with friends overnight. Its bloody ridiculous.

£4000 for a bridge? Are you sure? I paid £4k for a bone graft and implant privately.

I’m lucky I guess that I still have an NHS dentist, but their treatments have gone massively downhill. I still get a cheap check-up. They no longer do X-Rays unless they suspect a problem. They don’t give me a scale and polish anymore. I have two missing teeth at the back, which I was supposed to be given a bridge for (just prior to COVID) on the NHS. Once I went back after lockdown they said that it was no longer covered on the NHS and would now cost £4000 per tooth. Needless to say I still have those gaps!

I was given a filling a couple of years ago without any anaesthetic, cleaning or drilling. She literally got the filling material on the end of her gloved finger and pressed it into the hole. It’s an absolute mess.

I check regularly but what the NHS website says is very different to the actual reality.

That what we found when we moved here decade ago - hiding the problem really as one we contaced from NHS hadn't taken NHS pateient on for years by that point.

Previous area I found a dentist taking on NHS but had to write to every practise in the area. Here did same one got back said they'd take the kids as NHS if we went private with them - and TBF they still are NHS even now one over 19 - so we pay monthly sum that covers most of the cost for DH and I - though TBH have needed little other than scrap and polish and x-rays.

My Mum's denstist went private so she now on the dentplan scheme as well. IL still have an NHS dentist - but FIL retired and it took 18 months to find a new one and the pratcice thought they'd not find one at all.

DD1 come home for dental check up - uni - DS thought he'd find one up there but suspect he'll do the same but then it's a worry if they suddenly need one where they are.

I have used medical insurance (UK) for years for the dentist and opticians. It also came in handy when I decided to go for some private physio, and I had toe nail surgery done privately too. I just put in claims and get the money paid back.

Taking dentistry ‘out’ of the NHS has gone well hasn’t it - not!

Hopefully people will remember this disaster when they consider voting for Reform UK PLC, whose stated aim is to introduce some sort of ‘insurance based’ health care system … perhaps along the lines of dentistry!

What could possibly go wrong!!!

When I was an NHS patient I visited the dentist regularly and had any/all work done. Since moving many years ago private is the only option available locally. I do pay for hygeniest yearly (circa £90) and emergency work only. Last appointment was to fix a chip on the front tooth which was £180 for a composite bonding fix.The last time I went for a checkup at a different private dentist it was the best part of £200 just for check up, xrays and toothpaste, then they wanted an additional £500 for work which is unaffordable.

YANBU to think that dentistry has become a luxury when it should be an essential. Write to your MP so they know this is an issue that matters to you.

However, that is extortionate. My private dentist is £50 for a check-up, and £65 to see the hygienist, between £150 and £300 for a filling. They offer Denplan and 0% payment plans for treatment.

I would say that the cost is higher for new patients- £100 plus any treatment or diagnostic costs. You can only see the hygienist once registered.

So you probably will need to swallow an initial cost to get yourself registered and on to a plan.

I don't think anyone's pretending that is the case any more, I don't know anyone who has access to an NHS dentist. I don't even know anyone who can get access for their children. We have to pay privately for our 4 year old.

I've just had to leave denplan and luckily I've found a local dentist during a tooth pain nightmare and they took me on as a patient after the extraction.

What do I do about my son seeing a dentist now though? The denplan one won't see him if I'm not a client. Do NHS have to take on children no matter what?

He's just turned 16 and due a check up . . .

As a country I think we need to stop pretending we can support all adults with dentistry via the NHS. if your teeth are in reasonable condition then an insurance scheme is not too expensive and I think will be a cost that I think most adults are just going to have to accept they will have to pay. I’ve always had to accept that I have to pay for contact lenses and glasses. Unfortunately My dental scheme is very expensive but this was due to correcting some of the issues caused by the awful NHS dentistry that we were subject to as children in the 1970’s.

Your dentist is extortionate! This is an example of a price list for a dentist near me in the usually very expensive South East. https://www.shirleyavenuedental.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/Shirley-Avenue-Dental-Prices-2025-v2.pdf Note the cheapness of the check ups and fillings.

Central London (right by Euston if you want to travel in from your small town) and it's £55 for a check up. X rays are a further £50 if required for two.

Deep clean is £79.

There's a lot of rules and regulation about when you can use radiation on someone and it needs more justification than your dentist currently has for what they are doing, in case you want a relevant question to ask when they start pushing the x rays. (It's not dangerous at all to get them, but the idea is that you shouldn't be using radiation without a good reason.)
https://www.iaea.org/resources/rpop/health-professionals/dentistry/justification

Have you got particulary problemtic teeth or gum as those prices are mad. I go to a private dentist in outer London and I pay £80 per appointment for the hygienist and have two a year and have one check up a year wirh x rays which is £50.

Last year I had to have an in depth consult with a specialist to look at a possibly infected implant where he x rayed it, deep cleaned it and gave me advice and that was £100.