How much does dental treatment cost?

[MarvEll]

I've been booted from my nhs dentist apparently (amazed I've had it at all in the last 10 yrs).

Firstly I am sick of the bloody Tories not giving me access to timely and affordable dental treatment. I put the blame completely with them.

I'm struggling to get my kid registered and I wasn't able to be seen during my pregnancy and year of exemption, altho if I'd paid to go private I could have been.

I've been told £95 is the cost for check up. Is this right? It seems like a lot of money when I don't actually think anything is wrong, it's just been years and years and babies since I've had a check up.

What do you pay?

Yabu - £95 a year dental is reasonable
Yanbu - stuff the bloody Tories for sh*tting up our NHS health and dental care!

Think it's about £50 round here.

But I'm with Denplan and pay £30 a month so get x2 check ups and x2 hygienists included in that price (as well obviously as all free dental work except for elaborate stuff!)

At mine it is £35 for a check-up, but about twice that for an initial consultation.

I'm SE so maybe it's more ££ here. I just don't think I have £30 a month to spend on it, even tho that does sound like you get some for your money.
I think the last time I went it was about£18 because I was still NHS so the hike just seems crazy

I pay £12 per month which gives me two check-ups a year, two hygienist appointments and a discount for any additional treatment. Children under 12 are included with their parent and teens are around an additional £5 per month. That works out more than your checkup cost, but maybe rates are more expensive where you are. My dentist offers the first checkup for free, with no obligation to sign up so maybe somewhere close to you offers something similar.

Ive just paid £40 for a check up with Bupa, im on their essentials rate which means I pay more than NHS but less than full private.

Initial consultations are often more expensive as need longer to take recorded and do x-rays and have discussions. So maybe £90 for 30min consult then future exams cheaper? Where in the country are you based?

And thanks for acknowledging that it’s the government to blame (the last 20 years tbh)! The government commissions enough nhs dentistry for less than half of the population.

OP was a dentist. His Dental Protection Insurance alone was over £8k a year. Add on to that CPD courses, membership of British Dental, washing bills to accommodate Covid rules, PPE, increased downtime between treatments (so fewer patients in through the doors), increasing costs for electricity, water etc. £95 for a check up is cheap for a private dentist near me!

The Denplan systems are good as they spread the costs out over a year but its worth checking to see if the dentist themselves have their own scheme as sometimes they are more generous.

The prices aren’t crazy i promise. Dentistry is just expensive to provide. Nurses/PPE/Equipment/insurance/clinical waste/CQC compliance/materials/etc. cost a fortune. People in the uk just aren’t used to private prices. Look at dental costs in the USA/Australia

Also on bupa essentials. About £40 for check up and a recent filling was £70.

Hygienist you pay private rates though and it’s £92!!!!

Bupa surgery in my town charges £85 for a check up plus £10 PPE fee. They're not taking NHS patients.

Plenty of people struggle to afford NHS dentistry. This will be impossible for them.

I’m SE and our dentist is one of the most expensive in the area we are and it’s £55 for a check up and about the same for the hygienist , it does get costly if you need anything doing . That said both the dentists are lovely and even my daughter who has massive dental anxiety goes without too many issues .

Hmm ok, maybe it's more for this initial one. And maybe of they do x-rays and I get the hygienist, my teeth will be in good nick, which is no bad thing. It just doesn't seem like this is going to be affordable for everyone.

I'm sure there are lots of costs and training - I'm not mad at the dentists, I just really think something as basic as dental care should be achievable for the uk

My last checkup in Sept was £22 including an X-ray.

I am a private patient. Maybe he gave me a low price as I’ve given him so much money recently.

£63 for a new patient at mine then £49. I have denplan which is £18.60 ish a month. DH has it too but he's on the next band up as he has a crown and more fillings.
If it's any consolation my dentist decided they weren't seeing NHS kids with paying parents anymore and left him with no dentist, mid treatment as well or I had to fork out £20 a month for him. I couldn't even pay for a private check up for him as he is long overdue, they literally wouldn't let me. I tried to switch all of us
to a new practice and it was so stressful that I gave up. Fortunately I've found him a dentist that will take him on but it's taken months. It is just as difficult finding a private dentist that are taking on patients. I only found one out of nine near us.

Yeah lack of NHS dentists is shocking, but that goes for the majority of the NHS right now, I cant really see it ever recovering.
I envy anyone whos still got an NHS dentist!

They do tend to do x rays as has been mentioned, might be why it's so pricey! I pay £15 a month for 2 checkups, 2 hygiene apps and discount on other work. I went a decade without though as couldn't afford it! It is a ridiculous system and to be honest the amount who dont have check ups as can't get an nhs app or can't afford a private app must lead to people needing emergency treatment or ops etc.

I agree that this price is probably for a comprehensive examination, hygienist and X-rays. You won’t need x-rays every visit, it’s because you haven’t been seen for a while. Definitely shop around to see whether you can get a better price, but that might be the rate for your area.

As an NHS dentist I can assure you:

A) I’m skint haha
B) less than 5% of the patients think we are value for money

So it was bloody Tony Blair who brought in the current contract. The Tories haven’t touched it. To be fair it’s a shit contract and they should’ve by now but heigh ho!
So in my Yorkshire practice the prices are:
Adult new patients £105
Adult regular exam £56 (minimum once a year)
Child prices 50% of this.
Scale and polish £54
Filling between £70 and 160
Crown £600
Root canal (molar) £500

Out if this we pay all staff and overheads so the dentist earns a fraction of that (maybe 40%).
I’m afraid that in April a large number of the current NHS workforce are going to hand their contracts back so things will only get worse.
My advice is go private and look after your teeth. Go regularly to maintain everything.

PS Our exams include x rays but not scaling.

@MarvEll

Really varies from area to area. How long is a piece of string?

I am with an NHS dentist - always have been, but someone I know who hadn't been to hers for 4 years, got booted off the other week and had to go private. Cost her £75 in total to register and have her first check up. I think a couple of fillings cost about £130-145 where she goes.

'Private' dentists aren't HUGELY more expensive, for check-ups, polish and scale, x-rays, and even the odd filling, but when it comes to veneers, and crowns, that's when you will be hurtling up into 4 figures.

Why were you 'booted off' by the way?

If it helps to know, I had a filling today which was £115. I also pay £15 monthly which covers 2 checkups, 2 xrays and 2 hygienist visits per year

Thanks everyone. Good to put it into perspective, might just have to grit my teeth (without doing any damage) and get on with it.

I was booted off because I never remembered to book appointments regularly enough. It's fair enough from their perspective, and I'm absolutely not blaming the dentists, it just seems like a flawed system and I wish that something was being done about it.

I didn't know it was Blair tho - thank you for enlightening me @SilverontheTree

I pay £94 for a hygienist appointment.

I’m in the south east.

It’s £80 for check up. £65 for cleaning

My most recent bill was £1500 but that included a crown and two fillings.