my dental hell: please come to mock, commiserate or offer professional advice

[policywonk]

Sooo... I've just come back from my first visit to the dentist in about three years, and I have:

one ordinary filling to do (but white, cos b'feeding)
one ordinary root canal plus crown
two extractions (cos would require specialist root canal work that would cost about £1300 per tooth)
Grand total: over £1000

DP says it's because I brush my teeth too much (he never brushes his and has had one filling in the last 15 years).

It's practically impossible to get in to see NHS dentists round here - and even if I did, last year the NHS dentistry budget for this area was all used up by November and no-one could get any dental work done on the NHS until the new budget became available in April. The dentist I saw today reckoned that NHS dentists would not touch the specialist root canal work and would recommend extraction anyway.

If any actual dentists are reading this - is it worth getting a second opinion? Does this price bracket sound reasonable or insane (given that I am in Surrey)?

Do I have the worst teeth in the UK?

I know I've read articles where journalists go to 3 or 5 dentists chosen at random, and they get completely different advice about what work needs doing from each dentist -- leaving aside price differences. With a £1000 bill looming, I would definitely get a 2nd opinion b4 forking out.

policywonk
commiserating here
good luck with dental options mentioned, hope it works out..
have heard about the hungarian thing
budapest is beautiful this time of year..

i do have nhs dentist and thank the lord of dentalness for this many times
even though tis a trek
they care (or at least i think they do..)

lol at punch,
punch em back with your ultra clean fresh lister clean breath ... when you pay the bill...aim for cocky receptionist..

So this is private treatment then? Because for all that, I think you are getting a bargin, especially in Surrey!

In my last practice, (private, in Hertfordshire) fees as follows (& this was 4 years ago). All in pounds

White Filling (depending on size) 150 -300
Root Canal (depending on number of canals) 400 - 600
Extraction (depending on tooth/surgical or not etc) 100 - 200
Crown (depending on material used & tooth) 400 - 500

But yes, if you don't feel happy a second opinion can't do any harm at all. The root canal & crown will take about 4 visits. So you have to factor time into the cost.

Thank you cadmum, I will google.

Thank you also, severed, for the info. I am beginning to think that this guy's costs are quite reasonable for private UK treatment, but I think I will try an NHS dentist for a second op. and an NHS costing.

Hairy (do you mind being shortened to Hairy?) - . The dentist did go off on a rather tactless little ramble along the lines of 'Do you have a sweet tooth? Actually you don't need to answer that, you MUST do. There are lots of signs that you have rather poor dental hygiene - you have tartar and inflamed gums in many areas and receding gums also...' and I was fully expecting him to round it off with '...and you have stupendous halitosis'. Thankfully, he didn't.

Policy your dentist sounds divine! I have rubbish teeth the best think I ever did was buy a sonic toothbrush cleans mine far better than a standard electric!