Dental: Private root canal vs NHS root canal.

[PandoNoPants]

Just wondered if there are any major benefits with the private option?

OH due to have one tomorrow and the NHS cost is a fraction of the price. The private one is almost £300 but apparently they use better equipment? He's going to need a crown in a few months too.

Don't really know which one to go for. Is one really better than the other? TIA

Some private practices do have specialist equipment but to be honest I don’t think there’s a massive difference in terms of percentages of success. It’s mainly dependant on the shape and length of the roots that determines the success of the treatment. If your dh wants the best shot at saving the tooth he should see an endodontic specialist, it will cost a lot more. But bear in mind that all dental work has a shelf life there’s no guarantees in dentistry. The tooth should also be crowned after root canal treatment as the remaining tooth tissue will become brittle over time.

Depends on the practice really, if they use microscopes, how difficult the tooth is, what equipment they have, if the dentist has a special interest. Size and shape of canals, what tooth it is etc

If he's booked in for it tomorrow surely he's either booked in private or NHS? I'd think it was a bit dodgy to change how they do it depending on whether he wants private or NHS on the day. With a crown private or NHS is more obvious as it's about how the crown looks. NHS treatment should be as good as private in terms of doing it's job it's just generally not as aesthetic and is more about being functional.

Personally if it's going to be the same dentist doing it I'd go NHS.

£300 is amazing for private root canal. Mine was closer to £1k. It depends on the tooth. If it is an incisor with only one root or a canine then it’s simple for any dentist. It’s when it’s a molar and they don’t have the specialist equipment to find all the roots that they can be missed and problems occur as the root canal is incomplete.

Thank you. Seems worth considering. He's had this in the past, on a molar. The dentist couldn't do it and they referred him to a specialist (£800!). In the end, he opted for extraction instead.

He went for a check up 2 weeks ago and told me this morning that he's booked in for tomorrow for the NHS treatment. I did suggest that he researches both options but that didn't happen!

Our dentist has recently been taken over by Bupa. They have always offered NHS and private treatments though. It's the same person who will be carrying out the procedure. He apparently said he can't do the crown at the same time because it needs 6 months to settle in?

I'll tell him it's a pretty decent price then!

If it's with the same dentist I wouldn't worry about going private, I imagine his success rates are very similar private or NHS. What tooth is it?

Crowning after 6 months is quite normal, some dentists do crown straight away but the problem with that is that if the root canal then fails you've got to take off or go through a crown and then a whole new crown is needed.

£300 Is about normal for a private molar root canal, it's when it's specialist it costs more.

Ahh I see I was referred to a specialist endodontist. Thought that was what you meant.