Private or NHS dentist for a child

[BlackAldi]

More of a WWYD.

DD (13) broke her two front teeth four years ago in s bike accident. She saw the emergency dentist, was patched up and the teeth were repaired by an NHS dentist. In 2020 they became painful and the emergency NHS dentist said she needed a root canal. They said it would be 3-4 months wait with calpol for pain relief. I must have looked like I was about cry at this news as she was in a lot of pain and he then said they could refer to a private dentist for the treatment in a few days. I took this option.

The pain then actually settled and the private dentist said treatment wasn’t needed. Instead they offered annual review on the tooth. All was fine until this year when a scan showed infection and bone loss due to the damaged blood supply. She now needs the root canals. It is £2000 (for both) by the private dentist. Not sure what the NHS will offer. I’ve been waiting two weeks for them to let me know. DD is now having pain again.

Would you go for the private treatment if it’s an option, or stick with NHS in this case? It’s a lot of money but we could prioritise it.

I don’t have much experience of dentists. Our NHS one keeps changing. The private dentist is the same every year and seems very good.

thanks for reading this far!

As it’s been going on for 4 years, and you can afford it, I’d pay private.

I’d go private. DS, now 13, needed treatment several years ago. Every time we went to our NHS dentist (and he went every 6 months for routine checkups), it was a different person. Not that we couldn’t get in with the usual one, it was just that they had an incredibly high turnover of staff. I would find that one dentist would say one thing, and another something else.

We now take him private. He sees the same dentist every time, and he can get in quickly.

Good teeth are so important (I know this because mine were neglected all my childhood). I've always had private dentistry for myself and my children. Standards of care and attention are exceptional. Our package includes quarterly hygienist appointments.

Thank you, that’s helpful to hear other experienced. I’ve booked the private root canals,

Having just paid privately to replace a filling in dds tooth that nhs dentist bodged three times I’d go private!
I also discovered a necessary cosmetic treatment nhs dentist was offering her privately at a cost of £650 per tooth was not the best treatment for her and would be £450 at the private dentist! Go somewhere private and decent if you can afford it.

Thanks everyone. We went private and it was successfully done before Christmas. I think it was the best outcome for DD. Really sad though at the changes in NHS dentistry. I would have gone NHS all the way 5 years ago.

It’s rubbish isn’t it. Glad she is sorted. Think moving forward we’re all going to have to pay private but it’s such an unnecessary barrier… dental health is as much of a priority as other health! You break a leg, it gets fixed… tooth problem? Forget it! Crazy system we have.