Dental issues

[GreatAquaMoose]

I went to my nhs dentist recently and I’m having issues with one of my teeth, three to the right, a molar, she said my options are

1 - leave it until pain starts, however the decay has doubled in size since the x ray last year
2 - take the tooth out
3 - go privately for most likely root cancel treatment, which iv been told will be about £1655 for a molar and £1400 for the crown so just over 3k or £3400 if it can’t be saved and needs a implant

There saying they don’t have the materials or equipment to do it, should they not at least be referring me to somewhere else on the nhs if that is the case?

They said because the decay has went quite deep under the gum the nhs won’t cover it

I’m also thinking I may have avoided these issues if they gave me better care to begin with, I have had bleeding in my gums and when they done a scale and polish the other day, she must have only taken 3-4 minutes, when I look online it says it should be a 30 minute appointment for that alone. It’s always been that way upto now too
Finally She said we also need to keep an eye on the tooth to the left as that could end up facing the same issues as I am now.

She said I’ll refer you privately and I’ll see you in 6 months. I said should I not come back sooner to check the other issues don’t get worse, so she changed in to 3 months. I feel she should be telling me that though
I think I’ll need to go private soon as I don’t feel I’m getting very good care here

I called her back today and she said I have already explained this and it sounds like your losing trust in us mybe it would be better to take you of the list her then I asked for the practice manager and she said we don’t have one

does anyone have any advice in if I will need to pay this £3k min or is there another way around it
possibly could be another £3k on the way to if the other tooth gets worse

Also would you change to private

I fairly recently (within last 18 months) had three root canal treatments and three crowns with an endodontist. The costs you have been quoted are at the high end. The prices have gone up from when I had mine done but even now a molar is prices from £700 for a root canal (I was charged the 'from' price for all of mine - no higher), and £650 for a crown. I also had an implant - that cost £1800 + the initial scan fee (I think that was £120 ish).

Definitely shop around - my regular dentist (BUPA) quoted me well over £3000 for the implant. Then they kept pushing back the appointments (tooth already extracted so I didn't want to wait ages for them) so I went elsewhere - ended up with a small private chain and my implant was done by someone who had decades of experience and taught new implantologists.

This all had to be done when I changed from NHS to private. I wish I had gone private years ago tbh.

I had a molar (no 6 upper left) removed a couple of years ago. No issues. My dentist...a new one said there's no problem just leaving it.

I had a root canal at the dental hospital for free. My Dentist did one on NHS that wasn’t successful so she referred me to have it done again to the dental hospital. That didn’t work so she referred me to a private dentist (with my agreement) for a consultation to see if it was worth trying again. Consultation cost about £120. He said there was only a 60% chance of success and it would cost £800. I asked about an implant if I had it removed - he quoted me £3000. I decided I would rather spend £3000 on my kids (I’m 65) so have decided to have the tooth removed and if I’m self conscious about it I’m going to have a single denture made.

My dentist did say they are more likely to do on NHS if it is within your smile line. ie it can be seen when you smile

I had root canal in a front toooth and it failed and turned brown and cracked

I wish I'd just had a crown in the first place. Several year pass and New dentist buys practise.

I ended up having an implant

My dentist is NHS but does private "upgrades" for want of a better word and he does implant. I realise I am very lucky and it was under £2000.

I feel there is so much to trust in a dentist!

Would think your best bet would be removal and implant, which should only be about £2.5 - £3k, unless there are complications. At least that way you know it's done, whereas the root canal might not work at all or fail in the future. It's difficult to say whether to stay with NHS but as it sounds like the treatment you're receiving isn't great it may be best to look elsewhere. Alternatively, maybe have private hygienist visits and keep the NHS for checkups. I don't think NHS are good at all for hygienists, as is their way they prefer to focus on cure rather than prevention. If you're paying you should certainly get your full half-hour, plus you'll have two people keeping an eye out for potential problems. But if the work they actually do is substandard you're definitely best off leaving as it will just cause you a lot more trouble, and expense, down the road.

You might be right. Don’t think I could bare the thought of spending 3k and it all going wrong

There is never a better alternative than saving a natural tooth. While implants are good options, they are not as durable as real teeth, though are pretty close, the crowns also will require replacing just like any tooth crown, they are not an indefinite option.

Also if you've poor oral hygiene which it sounds like this could be true based on bleeding gums. You could end up with implantitis if you don't treat your gum disease first. Cleaning around the site of an implant is imperative to its success long term, any gum disease around the site of an implant is a recipe for disaster. A decent dentist/implantologist would not treat you until this is addressed.

I had a root canal fail after a few years and was offered the choice of either trying to have it redone, which may or may not work, or having extraction and implant. The price was the same so it was a fairly easy decision for me. I had misalignment in my bite that was putting too much pressure on my back teeth which is why I needed the original root canal, and why it failed. I changed dentists too as I didn't feel he made that clear and he just kept patching me up - he was NHS. I'm now having work to adjust my bite, and will then implant (the tooth's already out). As PP said, definitely make sure you are dealing with whatever issue caused the damage in the first place or it will fail again. I have no regrets about removing the tooth though, I wasn't willing to take the risk of it failing again.

Yes it's the endodontist that makes it so pricey but if it's a complicated root canal which yours is, the NHS or even standard private practices don't have the equipment needed for it to succeed.

I'm in a similar position and have been quoted £950 plus £150 for the consultation. Then if you need extra scans that will cost in addition but the initial price from your post does seem a lot. BUT I'm going back to my NHS dentist for the crown - that doesn't need to be private, and for a white crown I think it'll be around £700-850.

If there's no pain that's a good sign, probably better to do it now before the decay gets even worse and causes nerve pain - this is where I'm at and it's horrible!

I'm taking out a 0% credit card with m&S to spread the cost over 9 months, in case that's of help. And as I'll be spending a good whack I'll get some free m&s vouchers at least to slightly soften the blow 😭

I am SE London. My dentist referred my to an Endodontist for root canal which was around £100 for assessment and £1,000 for the work and then my dentist is £800 for the crown which is the most expensive they offer.
Root canal was over two appointments each 90 mins but it was a big tooth (second from back, lower). NHS dentist but private crown. NHS only treatment would be extraction.