Advice please! DH needs his wisdom tooth out - can't afford our dentists price :(

[Laiste]

Hes been in pain with it before twice. A year ago he signed up with a private dentist and they made him have x rays,and 2 hygiene appts and charged £300 and never got as far as taking the bloody tooth out! Just ran out of money to spend on it and it had calmed down so he left it.

Now it's flaring up again and he just wants it out. His dentist want to charge £300+ to take it out!

Ringing round but no one seems to be taking on nhs patients at all. Yesterday he tried 111 ( google's advice) and they said they'd refer him to Bupa for emergency treatment but this morn Bupa have said starting price would be £80 for antibiotics and extraction not on nhs. 🧐So confused ...

Any advice? Thanks in advance .

Becoming a Therian is starting to make sense 🤔😂
Woof 🐶

Scot Arms Dental Practice Emergency help https://www.scottarmsdentalpractice.com/emergency-dentist-birmingham.html

They charged my son £150 for his broken wisdom tooth…it was a simple extraction and most of that cost was for the local quick acting anaesthetic. they specialise in dental emergencies and may be able to signpost you to something similar closer to your home.

£80 for antibiotics is insane, I had xray & antibiotics last year from my private dentist & it was £50 !!

Also compare price lists from other dentists - even if they aren’t taking on any NHS patients books are still usually open for private.

Most areas have an NHS emergency dental service attached to the local hospital

Where are you? There’s one in Chesterfield that’s good for emergencies
https://www.glumangatedental.co.uk/

When I lived in the ME, I had my impacted wisdom tooth (and the other 3 for good measure, because there was no space for them to emerge anyway) extracted under GA for £500. Unfortunately the only way to get affordable private dentistry in the UK appears to be on a monthly insurance plan.

I think find a way to pay the £300 - consider the huge health implications of not dealing with dental problems - I didn't deal with an abcess and REALLY regret it - if he ends up with infections etc will be a lot worse.

Wisdom teeth are a nightmare. Unfortunately once you keep getting dental infections, it can become quite risky. I had a really nasty infection where I was close to needing hospital and IV antibiotics and others that were painful and debilitating but not quite as serious. I’ve had 4 out. Two my normal (private) dentist did for a reasonable cost. Those were upper ones.

I’ve had problems with one of my impacted ones for years and have had multiple referrals to the NHS and they wouldn’t touch it due to proximity to nerve. I’ve since had that one out privately at a cost of £395 plus another £90 for a specialist 360 xray. The cost felt painful but it was effectively surgery as they had to cut the gum and drill out the tooth and only a specialist would do that.

ive also been prescribed antibiotics by a private emergency dentist for about £30 - as part of a general check of my mouth then they give the prescription.

I live in a busy city though - is it that you don't have many options/?

I called 111 asked for urgent dentist they found me one open late hours and got the antibiotic prescription there

Honestly don't put off dealing with the underlying issue though - it's also not good for your general gut health to keep taking antibiotics (which I did end up having to do)

Hi, I had an extremely painful infected tooth July 2022. I phoned 111 and they gave me the emergency number, they would only see you if you say you're in extreme pain though and you had to call at exactly 8am. When I went to the emergency appointment they said that they would be able to take out the tooth for a very low price (as it was an emergency), but unfortunately after doing an x-ray they discovered that I have curved roots in my teeth and would need an operation at the hospital to take it out. They did prescribe antibiotics, and they did a repeat prescription for codeine for the pain.

I was on the waiting list for the operation for ages but finally had it under GA in October 2023, so a year and 3 months later.

Do it for £80. It would cost more than that from an NHS dentist I think?
He can't just leave it.

Gosh thank you all so much for your replies x

We live in a little village and our next door village has quite a large GP surgery so we're v lucky. We can ring at 8.30 and usually get a same day appt. We can ring and speak to a receptionist straight away.

Ive contacted one of the dentists in @Mammamia16373private message and they have agreed to see DH, assess, x ray and prescribe an AB (if necessary) for the nhs price of £27.40. He'll be there tomorrow at 9 am 😀😀😀 It's just over an hours drive but that's fine. Thank you so much Mammamia!

The power of mumsnet !

Why have you not got a referral for the nHs - they normally do wisdom teeth in hospital not at the dentist…

We know this isn't the extraction - but to be seen x ray'd and get a prescription (to be taken to chemist and payed for obvs) for £27 is a fantastic start !

Ah brilliant @Laiste I'm sure that's such a relief!

I do think dental insurance is important as we get older because tooth problems become more likely and unless you're an NHS patient costs really do rack up.

We tried 111 and the 'ring at 8am' thing but when he rang this morn they said ABs would be 80 quid or whatever it was exactly and then no nhs for the rest of it 🥹

yeah - he has a health insurance as self employed, we need to add a dental plan to it.

Crikey, what a nightmare. I was private for mine and they referred me to NHS straight away (a few years ago now) but still. It’s shocking treatment. I hope you get sorted, there is nothing worse than tooth ache. Mine were compacted and I had gotten an infection and used to suffer with jaw ache and the relief after recovery was great - I hope the same can be said for you. Good luck

Well done @Mammamia16373 and have you considered setting up a Find An NHS dentist concierge service? 😉

Try the London ones even if they are further as there are several of them. DH had a wisdom tooth extracted at Kings for free within a week of being referred to them.

No advice here just massive sympathy. Give him a hug from me x

nhs is still chargeable though the extraction will cost a couple of hundred at least

Just in case you still need options OP, you can get antibiotics prescribed online for about £30-40. You have to upload a photo and they check it, and the antibiotics arrive the next day.

I had an infected wisdom tooth last year that I couldn’t afford to get treated. I had two sets of antibiotics over six months while I saved up.

Hope it gets sorted, dental pain is awful.

Get the dentist to refer you onto your local oral surgery/maxillofacial department or your local NHS oral surgery provider once they've managed the acute problem

It doesn't have to be a dental hospital, most hospitals have oral surgery department for wisdom teeth and there will be specialist oral surgeons in practice providing NHS wisdom teeth extractions . It'll be a long wait for GA but it's usually only a few months for local, sometimes quicker.

You don't need to see a dental hospital, just your local Oral Surgery unit