How do ordinary working people afford major dental treatment costs?

[Heereforagoodtime]

My husband has just called, having been to the dentist, and he needs a back tooth to either be worked on and crowned or removed. The cost of the work is going to be over £1k. I don't know about the cost of the removal but, if he had it taken out, it would mean he'd be without two consecutive teeth on one side. I've just had a look at implants and they are so expensive.

I have a feeling this won't be the last of his issues, either. His teeth are terrible.

How do ordinary working people, who don't get any assistance, afford dental care?!

well done. a really sensible answer. people in the uk do not prioritise or take responsibility for their own health. Now that the NHS is at breaking point and people are having to start paying, the next generation will be much better. people think it’s perfectly reasonable spending £40 every 2 weeks on their nails but not £40 every 6 months on a dental check up.

@ViciousCurrentBun shop around. You can get dental implants with bone graft for less than £5k. Same with dentures attached to implants.

a really sensible answer. people in the uk do not prioritise or take responsibility for their own health.

I'm British and I do. What about you, oh judgemental one?

Lots of people just can't afford it.

Pay £20 a month dental plan: covers all routine and 20% off treatment, cost £600 for a crown etc recently, paid on a credit card, paid off over a couple of months.

We do all our dental work abroad (Greece). We go every year, stay with family, and have check ups and teeth cleaning for €50 (€30 for the kids). We also do yearly blood tests, and all other preventative doctor checkups for a fraction of the price and no waiting times/having to fight with the GP for referrals.

This is completely irrelevant and none of your business. We live in a country that constantly goes on about the wonderful NHS and a free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare system to the point where it's practically a national religion. The mass exodus of dentists from the NHS to private work fundamentally conflicts with the core mission of the NHS and means that patients must pay for their dental work twice; first through tax and NI and again privately - all for a woeful service that the state is legally contracted to provide but is failing to deliver. So yes. I do want my holidays and my teeth looked after please. I shouldn't have to choose.

On the nose.

In 2020 hadn’t been to a dentist for 10 years and got a small windfall from a house sale and divorce .struggled to nhs dentist in area I had initial work done privately, got me up to date in 2022. Once the money had gone ,i got a credit card for emergency’s like this. Came in handy this year for a surprise root canal! Rest of the time I’ve got a small savings account where I put £30-50 a month and I pay for a plan at the private dental practice which covers all check ups ,cleaning and X-rays. (£18 monthly) I understand now there is much less extra money in a lot of households . Get a plan sorted. Many private practices take them

The problem is around 11p per week of your tax etc goes to NHS dentistry. It’s so far at the back of the queue for funding it can’t even see the queue. That’s just to provide a service that , historically, only provides for 50% of the population.

For decades funding has decreased. In order to restore NHS dentistry it is estimated it will need a funding increase of £1.5 billion . What area of the NHS should be cut to fund that , or how much more tax are you willing to pay?

The government has said there is no more money for dentistry.

Myself and many other dentists think using the existing budget to provide an emergency service for all and a basic , core service for the most vulnerable would be the best way of using a rapidly shrinking budget.

There are hard choices to be made . Modern dentistry is increasingly expensive to provide as technology improves and expectations increase.

In our area two year old children and children with special needs in pain from abcesses and decayed teeth wait two years for a general anaesthetic . Yet around 50% of NHS spending on children’s dentistry is spent on braces. We need to reassess what the NHS can provide but we need a government brave enough to admit it cannot fund a comprehensive service and hasn’t done for decades.

I've got 4 crowns. They were £1000 each . I'm a private patient. Surely NHS must be cheaper than that.

They are either on NHS or pay privately per treatment or spread the cost with finance or have a plan in place where they pay monthly but this is usually just for maintenance appointments. Most of them who can’t get a nhs dentist, just can’t afford it and resort to DIY by pulling their own teeth out etc. it’s a massive issue… Have you not seen this in the news? You could shop around private dentists to see if it’s cheaper for extractions anywhere else .

NHS dentist! Charges are capped though I opted for removal rather than a root canal and crown

Dental costs are staggering, they should serve as a warning to people about why the NHS( except dentistry) is so important to keep free at the point of delivery. I used to have an NHS dentist, but like I’ve heard so often, they used the not attending during covid added to having not needed to go for the year prior, to remove from list. Would have made no difference in the long run as DW remained on their NHS list and has recently been told they no longer intend to offer NHS care and inviting her to take out their £140 a year plan for a check up and hygienist visit and 10% off the cost of other care, she had a serious accident many years ago and all of her front teeth ended up capped, if they need replacing we would literally have to remortgage

I have a wonderful NHS dentist, my whole family does. It's an absolute boon, charges are minimal. It's awful that not everyone has access to that.

Also it’s worth remembering that the reason a lot of people have poor teeth is the fault of their parents.
DD had several friends who have never been to a dentist. She had a friend in primary who had problems but her mum just didn’t want to deal with it and kept missing appointments and then blames the dentist for not chasing her ‘enough’.

I agree with you. I think it’s about 40% of Uk households that have a dog.
It’s about priorities and keeping money aside.

40% of new NHS dental appointments are failed ie people don’t turn up.

The largest group are men 18 to 30 and those who don’t pay for treatment , including children.

It’s a sorry fact that it is not unusual for children needing treatment not to be brought in and left with pain and infection. In theory it is a child welfare issue but is so common that social services would be overwhelmed if every case was reported.

They prioritise it, or have insurance.
I know lots of people who can’t afford private dentistry but have foreign holidays, meals out or new clothes. No judgement btw, everyone’s entitled to do what they want but yeah, dentistry is expensive and there’s no nhs dentistry anymore and certainly not for root canals

☝🏻 that.

The term "Turkey teeth" was the conjuring of terrified UK dentists realising the balloon payment on their Merc is now equivalent to working on "teeth" instead of a "tooth" ... It comes second only to the CIA's invention of "conspiracy theory".

I'm there in the next 6-8 weeks and I basically said I'd like them to remove every single tooth, violently and with prejudice. Meanwhile, I'll be snoozing through my gas giggles and demanding that as a full-paying customer, the translator should repeat every word. No exception.. (went there for a smile after all, right?)

A UK/NHS dentist will tell you if you go to Turkey (or anywhere else tbh), then no UK/NHS dentist will see you ever again... It's not because they use plasticine and Pritt Stik to make your teeth over there, it's because only a specialist minority go through the manufacturers training and approval when there's hee-haw demand for a £10k implant here. An all-on-four/all-on-six is designed to be there for life and it's not like you'll ever need a filling or a root canal (although I've no doubt some will suggest haha)... As an answer to that, all reputable dentists in Turkey now make routine arrangements for UK visits every 4-6 months and spend a couple of days in each major city doing checkups, monitoring fitment etc. It's sad in so many ways, but it's definitely one of the most blatant examples of how the UK trails behind the rest of the world.

Anyway... It's going to cost you around £3500 and that includes the flights and hotel. You'll speak to people several times a week who have "Turkey teeth" but the closest you ever come to knowing is thinking "damn they've got a beautiful smile"... Unless you ask for the "full beam", no one will ever see it as anything but your very nice smile

Took out a loan for some major work I needed doing

It’s also genetic as well. My mum was great taking us to the dentist but she gave me her dodgy genes

I am currently coming to the end of one year worth of treatment with a private dentist in which I have had the following work completed.

Complex extraction - £400 (had a sinus communication following this - not pleasant!!!)

6x white gumline fillings - £1800 (spread over the year)

2x check ups - £160 (inc X-rays)

hygienist x2 - £150

next will be Invisalign - £4000 (with a discount as they are running a deal atm)

I have paid for some with savings, some straight out of wages - 50% of Invisalign going on a credit card as also need savings incase of emergencies!

South East, not an NHS dentist to be seen!

I am 36 and earn about £65k a year and tbh I have not done anything else recreationally (no holidays etc) as focused on getting teeth sorted but I think it’s an extortionate amount of money tbh.

The OP says it is an NHS dentist. But something sounds off

UK dentists are already very risk averse. Genuinely they won’t touch work that has been done abroad. As soon as they get involved, they assume some of the responsibility. And trust me, any “big” jobs, I would rather refer to a specialist, ie an oral surgeon, orthodontist, prosthodontist etc.
you mentioned Turkish dentists coming to the UK on regular visits. They are not GDC registered, so by providing exams in the UK, what they are doing is illegal. They try and get around this by saying they aren’t doing exams. But they are. This practice will stop as the hotels/various venues are getting wise to it.

here is a link to a recent BBC report -

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwyl5w141xwo?app-referrer=deep-link

Also when you go to this clinic, check their qualifications, training, their registered body, what their sterilisation and standard operating policies are. Check what materials they are planning to put-in your body. Check what happens if something goes wrong. Check the medication they provide afterwards. Check if they are insured. Ask them who will take out the stitches. Ask what happens if you develop an infection. Check if you need a sinus lift or a bone graft. Check that the implants have osseo- integrated. Check how they have ensured that. Check if they are using standard radiographs or CBCT scanning to plan the case.