Private v NHS Dental costs.

[VerySmallSqueak]

Having been less than satisfied with the NHS dentist treatment that I have had lately I am considering whether I should look into going to a private dentist and whether actually it may not cost me any more overall.

I have had a couple of situations lately where problems have not been picked up although I have said that I know there is a problem,and ultimately it proves costly as it results in emergency appointments.

Is there a rough guide as to what a private dentist would charge for the most common courses of treatment such as check ups,fillings and extractions?

Hope someone can offer some advice.

I thought there were only 3 charges for NHS treatment.

£17.50 - for check ups, teath sealing and basic care
£48 - for fillings, extractions and root canal work and this should also includes everything covered in the £17.50 charge as well

The highest NHS charge is £209 - this covers everything else. It should include everything in the previous 2 categories as well - so you should not be paying twice for the same problem.

Alot of private dentists were NHS dentists. They are not any better and are usually just as booked up etc. I have had to have manay dentists over the years as we have moved around the UK. I cannot say I have had better or quicker care from a private one than an NHS one. I have reverted back to my childhood dental practice now (NHS) as I cant be bothered to find a new one and set up new payment plans etc everytime we move and I cant find a NHS dentist.

Each to their own - but in a good year I pay £17.50 a year for my dental care. This year I have paid £48. Only once in 10 years have I paid the NHS top charge. I have always been seen by my NHS dentist the same day in an emergency as well.

To answer your question, no - I am afraid it is like choosing a garage or a vet - they can charge what they like and prices will vary enormously.

Many dentists do both NHS and private work, but they may offer you additional treatments as a private patient that they cannot offer on NHS.

If you know what you need doing, you could get quotes. But the dentists advice on what 'needs' doing can vary between dentists too Or there are things like Denplan you might want to look at, works a bit like vet insurance.

I see an NHS dentist but I know that they would probably not do a root canal if I needed one. They would treat me, but most likely by taking the tooth out instead. In theory, if a root canal is the best treatment they should offer it on the NHS but in practice they often don't, because it can take several sessions and may not work well - not worth their while for what the NHS will pay them to do it.

I just had a look at the Denplan website about charges.

www.denplan.co.uk/patients/new/pricing-examples.aspx

£18 odd a month for the plan that covers the bulk of care and treatments and £4 a month for a very basic plan that basically covers very little.

Unless I was unable to get an NHS dentist or was stuck with one I hated or I thought was utter crap I would bother personally.

Horses for courses.

IIRC you sometimes need to pay for any initial treatments to get your teeth up to scratch before denplan and similar take you on. So you can't join with loads of work needing doing, and get it for £18 a month.

around here when I looked around (was struggling to find an nhs one at the time), private charged around the same as NHS except that the private charge was per filling and the NHS is for everything that needs doing at the time. Why not go NHS at a practice that also does private work if you cn find one, they you can use your NHS care but top up if you need to or want to like, for example if you need a filling NHS will normally only offer the grey ones so if you wanted to you could opt for white privately if it was one that was likely to be visible.

I go private, and feel that it is costing me less than the NHS dentist that I had before would have done, with a much better level of service. I think that the main differences is that the NHS dentist seemed to want to be doing fillings all the time - I left the NHS one because he said I needed 7 fillings, went to the private dentist expecting the worst, and was told I only needed one.
Also the private dentist had access to a wider range of treatments, so what would have been a crown was able to be done as a cheaper ceramic implant, which preserved more of my tooth.

I would suggest asking around for personal recommendations for a dentists. There are excellent NHS dentists and poor private ones. A really excellent dentist should concentrate on prevention of problems my Mum has and excellent NHS one I have an excellent private one.

Thanks for your advice everyone.
I think it might be worth me perhaps doing a little research.Maybe I could narrow down to a practice that I like the look of and go for a check up to see what they have to say.
I just distinctly get the feeling that my NHS dentist is either rushed or unwilling to do too much work for one course of treatment cost,therefore perhaps leaves things that I would prefer were tackled sooner rather than later.

I'd find an alternative NHS dentist.

I've been private most of my adult life but switched to an NHS dentist about 18 months ago. I wish I'd done it sooner. My teeth are just as well cared for and it is costing me a fraction of the price. But I have a good dentist.

hi girls,
I am quite confused how this all works. How much do you normally pay for white fillings at NHS and white fillings at private dentist? I need to have about 6 white fillings renewed and dont know if to take nhs, private or some dental plan.