Can you get white porcelain crowns on molars...

[Percephone]

...on the NHS in England or is it gold only?

Anyone? I have a crumbly tooth and don't fancy looking like Goldie

I'm not sure. DH has several white crowns that were done on combo NHS/ private at his dentist.

You need to ring your dentist and ask, and bear in mind that gold is sometimes considered more suitable for teeth in a very bad way (I think) when porcelain might not work.

No, you can only get gold on the NHS. You might find porcelain doesn't cost you too much more privately (assuming you aren't exempt from NHS charges). Crowns are band 3 so an NHS one will be £219.00

I still have a maternity exemption so an NHS one would be free at the moment. I've been messed around by my dentist and have had a temporary filling in for 4 weeks while they decided whether they would finish my root canal or the hospital would have to do it. Now after me phoning 3 times they have decided they will but they can't see me for another week! In the meantime bits are starting to break off my tooth. There will be nothing left soon

Don't worry, if you've had a root canal treatment then your dentist will be able to build up a core for a crown even if there's not much tooth left.

Some dentists will offer silver coloured metal crowns on the NHS, which aren't as 'blingy' as the gold coloured ones.

I don't really want any metal! Looks like I will have to pay £££.

Molars teeth with porcelain crowns are most often porcelain bonded to metal for strength. If you want to avoid metal completely and have an all porcelain crown them you'll have to accept that as well as being the most costly type of crown, it's also not very strong for a molar tooth.

I was thinking if I have to pay anyway I might get a zirconium crown. Do you know much about those Armani? Are you a dentist?

And yes I would be happy with a porcelain over metal crown. My first molar is quite visible and would look pretty bad if it was metal.

I had one done a few months ago after I broke my molar on a piece of crackling The Nhs one I was offered was silver and I think was £214.

But I chose to have a white one, I think it's porcelain, not sure if it's bonded to anything, but it looks perfect. I think it was £360. My memory has gone blank on the exact cost but I think that's about right.

I did consider the silver one but I'm so so glad I paid a bit more for the white one. I'd have been very conscious of a metal tooth and it would def have been noticeable.

Yes I am. Zirconia are all porcelain. My personal choice for a molar would be porcelain bonded to metal. It's a good compromise of strength and aesthetics. You can see the grey margin of metal at the edges so they are not ideal for anterior teeth but perfect for a molar.

I was only offered grey metal. I had to pay £400 for porcelain crown.

On top of £400 for private root canal as it was too tricky to do on NHS apparently, so they would have taken out on NHS. If I wanted to save it (there are good medical reasons to do so, every dentist I spoke to said they would save it if it were theirs). Private dentist had fancier tools and was more willing to take risk of breaking them in my tooth (4 roots, one bent to almost 90 degrees). I still cannot believe it cost £800 for that damned tooth.

Thanks I will look into porcelain over metal in that case. They have done most of the root canal but apparently one root was too long to reach with their tools. They wanted to send me to the dental hospital to finish it but now they have just ordered the longer files and will be doing it after all. So there is just about 2mm of root to be finished next week. The first part of the root canal was finished 3 weeks ago. How long do you think I need to leave it before I get a crown? I might be able to get someone to do it in 2 - 3 weeks you see. Thanks again!

Yes Didyou, it is so expensive to go private!

The sooner the better for the crown. Root filled teeth are weaker and need the protection of a crown. It'll be a 2 week wait from having the crown prep done to having it fitted to give the lab time to make it

Thanks my dentist was just planning on filling it last time I spoke to her but surely now it's broken it will need a crown.

I have one, but…..

it cost £850!