To think paying £300 for tooth extraction is a joke

[Tiredjoanna]

So, have had toothache for couple of years in 1 specific broken tooth. Always got by with strong painkillers and oragel. However for the past week the pain was immense so ended up having to go to an emergency dentist who I had to pay £50 just to look and do quick x-ray. So, he told me it's an infected root of tooth and I'd need an extraction but not a basic one as there isn't enough tooth to pull on to get it out. So scrape it to the root basically, a 10 minute job he said. And then proceeded to tell me it would cost £300!! Now i know they're doing a specialised job but really? I cannot find an NHS dentist by me anywhere so can only go private. Is this a normal price for an extraction or am I being completely unreasonable. Fwiw I seriously don't have £300 so am at a loss. Sorry for the long post

Well it's not a bog standard removal as there is barely any tooth left above the gum so he said it would be extracted by scraping it all down to the root as the infection is quite severe

The price quoted is reasonable given overheads etc etc. What isn’t reasonable is that despite the fact we have an NHS which you pay for already there is no choice but for you to pay twice and go private.

as pp have explained, that price is reasonable for the skill involved (I’ve paid that much for a locksmith), what is ridiculous is the state and limited availability of nhs dentistry in the U.K. I don’t understand why medically, teeth are treated as a completely separate thing to the rest of your body - they’re not a luxury or an optional extra?!

That's insane.

The French would be out in the streets if they had the same issue.

The British just seem to accept it as the new normal.

Exactly and problems with teeth can lead to problems with heart etc. There's going to be a wave of serious health issues for NHS all because they don't care about dentistry for people

I think there are two things. We need a new dental contract so dentists can deliver proper services on the money the NHS pays. We also need people to take proactive responsibility for their dental health - yearly check ups, proper regular dental hygiene, undersanding the imoacts of things like smoking and fizzy drinks etc.. It should be a regular thing, not just going when your tooth hurts.

It's not just about it being 'ten minutes of work' though, is it? You'll be given pain relief, there are the tools used, probably support from a dental assitant, overheads of the building, staff salaries, pensions, sick pay etc.

It's not £300 for ten minutes of work. It's £300 for all of the above. The NHS heavily subsidise it in NHS patients but it still costs the same.

It is here. I should have paid £20 to have a wisdom tooth removed at ours but they forgot to charge me.

Where are you based if you don't mind me asking?

When I was younger it was entirely normal for everyone to have an NHS dentist and the fees were low. Private dentistry gave some nicer options for those who were happy to pay.

It wasn't always like this and I'm amazed people aren't more up in arms. Maybe everyone is just tired of watching the country collapse.

I had to make a 999 call at the weekend. I was on hold for five minutes. It was a Cat1 emergency, the response should be within minutes. I was told it would be at least an hour, maybe two before an ambulance became available. For a life and death call. Thankfully the rapid response volunteers came very quickly and they have a hotline to the ambulance which came ten minutes later.

I was at a community engagement meeting last night. The Inspector representing the police was at the end of his tether having to explain that due to cuts there is only one neighborhood officer for a large town and that minor calls will essentially be ignored.

We are in a real mess.

They smashed your tooth whilst having spine surgery?

Cambridgeshire.

It is a common complication in surgery - a result of the breathing tube used while under anaesthesia.

I'm just outside of Birmingham so not doable unfortunately 😔

Yes, private surgical extraction is usually £350 per tooth.

It's not what anyone wants to hear but most dental surgeons hate complex extractions because they actually have the lowest margins for the amount of time and risk required. You also can't charge for crowns or post-treatment work. So it's £300 turnover for 1hr of time which isn't a lot by medical or business standards. In comparison, an implant can generate several thousand pounds in the same amount of time.

That's also the reason why the price is quite high as they hope the patient will have it done on the NHS. Extractions are the quickest and cheapest form of dental treatment and typically something that needs to be covered by insurance. Obviously the failure of the system to provide adequate NHS care is an entirely different issue in itself, but unfortunately that doesn't oblige private dentists to change their pricing or business models.

No the NHS do not subsidise heavily at all. For hundreds of dental surgeries what they get is less than the patient charge so , in effect, they have to pay back the NHS what is left over after treatment fee deducted from charge.

Dentists get no other money , all practice costs , materials, staff, training , building , indemnity comes out of what is earned seeing a patient.

In the U.K. per patient treated on the NHS , per year around £36 to £40 is spent. How much high quality dentistry will that buy? Could you get a car mechanic to do anything , or a plumber for that amount of money?

Most will get a pound or two on top of the patient charge , so for an extraction they will get £6 on top of patient charge if as part of a course of treatment or £2 extra if emergency treatment.

It costs , in a cheap area , upwards of £120 an hour to run one room in a practice that does NHS work , upwards of £200 an hour to run one room in a private practice. You can see why it is so difficult to cover costs in a NHS practice.

I had a molar out over 20 years ago, and the teeth either side and above have not shifted.

@Lollygaggle When I said the NHS subsidise, I just meant that a private patient will pay £300 whereas an NHS patient might pay e.g. £100 with a £200 NHS subsidy.

@Lollygaggle Wait, sorry I might be being a bit thick. Are you saying that the NHS wouldn't pay towards the cost of NHS treatment?

My dental costs so far in the last six weeks due to a broken molar which was cutting at my tongue:

£75 for an emergency appointment and a temporary filling.

£80 for an x-ray of my gums as I am a new patient there and hadn't seen a dentist for several years.

£175 for a permanent (composite) filling on Monday afternoon this week.

In October I will have to pay £175 again for another filling on the other side plus probably another £60 for the hygienist.

I was a SAHM for a number of years too, which is why we couldn't afford much dental treatment then, and probably why I need to spend so much now. Fortunately the "children" are in their twenties now so pretty much independent. Plus I did work again for a few years so can now just about afford it. Have to now, really. No other choice if I want to keep reasonably healthy teeth.

Yes, I'm afraid I really can believe that an extraction could cost £300. Some dentists do offer payment plans, but by no means all I don't suppose. I guess you have enquired well there?

If a patient pays for their treatment , hundreds of dentists they will not get paid the full amount the patient pays , the dentist will, in effect , give money back to the NHS.

For most dentists, if a patient pays , the NHS will contribute a couple of pounds at most . Therefore for a band two treatment (check up , x rays , fillings, root fillings extractions , gum disease treatment etc) in England a patient will pay £70.70 and the NHS pays , on average £25 a UDA . Band two attracts three UDAs (units of dental activity) which pays £75 in total so NHS pays £4.30 on top of patient contribution. The NHS has committed to paying a minimum of £23 a UDA from October 2022 so a lucky practice being bumped up to the new minimum will earn £66 for treatment so will pay back the NHS £4.70 from what the patient has paid!

The NHS gives no other money , but obviously for people who do not pay and children the NHS pays the whole £25 or whatever the practice value for the UDA.

@Lollygaggle Thanks, I didn't know that.
That makes me feel a bit more sympathetic to practices who say they aren't taking on NHS patients but will take on private ones.
It's all a bit of a mess isn't it :(

That is so expensive. Likely what my mum would have to pay if she needed that treatment too as she's private
I am an NHS patient and my surgery charge £32 for an extraction and £12 for X-rays if you pay for your treatment

Have you tried calling NHS 24 (out of hours) for an emergency dentist appointment? I have had to phone them 2 times before when wasn't registered and they've given me an app locally for the next day

Yep that sounds about right!

I had a dead tooth (front one) and I was in extreme pain. I purposely waited until I had my son as dentistry is free in the first 12 months. I had an extraction (which would have cost around £275) and a denture provided (which would have cost £296) all at no cost. Maybe have another baby so you won’t have to pay? Joke🤣

Despite saving £571, I’m now paying 3K over the course of 8 months so that I can have an implant. You win some, you lose some🫠

In England the charge would be a band two charge £70.70 which includes check up , x rays , any necessary fillings , gum treatment , extractions.

Only in Scotland and Northern Ireland do you pay for individual bits of treatment .