NHS vs Private Dental - Quality of Care

[howmanytimesnc]

Just wondering really:

Several years ago I had to have a crown fitted on NHS as there was no saving my tooth. That crown fell apart within a month and there was nothing that could be done. Subsequently that’s left me with a gap, now the teeth either side have become affected by discolouration and one had even cracked. I will have to go private now to get it sorted as NHS don’t cover restorative treatment and also there just aren’t any practices that take on adult patients.

Anyways, that’s not the ABIU. Whenever I tell anyone of my experience, they always say ‘you should’ve gone private’. I don’t get that really, aside from maybe having choice of different types of materials used, the dentist is the same. They take on both types of patients so the skill and treatment is surely the same as it’s carried out by the same dentist? Unless you go to a prestige clinic that is.

If it's literally the same dentist then it's down to the type of equipment and materials they will use. A crown on the NHS made of the same materials as private by the same person should be of very similar quality. Except they might spend less time on it/rush a bit more for the NHS one? I'd say if there's a problem with that dentist then just use a more senior one.

NHS dentists are very rare now for new patients and anyone saying you should quit and switch to private is foolish. If you need to use both then fair enough if cost allows. But don't leave the NHS one or you'll never get one back.