How much for a monthly dental plan?

[PickyCat]

Wondering if people can share what they pay for a monthly dental plan, and what they get for the fee? My county now no longer offers NHS, everyone is being moved to private across all practices. I've just been told £14 p/m for which you get 2 check ups per year. Any actual treatment charged separately. Children priced at £8.50 p/m so no free checks for them.

So that's £84 per check up per adult...google tells me a GP appointment real time cost is £42. Obviously we don't actually pay this as it's NHS. But I'm not understanding why it's so much more for dentists? I get that they have running costs, dental nurses etc etc but it seems over inflated to me.

Happy to be told why it's so costly and that it's good value for money, but can't help feeling it's going to be unaffordable for many families at more than £500 per year.

They quoted us around £100 a month for 6 of us. Luckily we managed to get in with NHS as no way we could have afforded that!

Is there nothing else included for the £14 per month? Discount on treatments or anything?

I'm with a private dentist and it's about £40 for a check up so that monthly price would be ridiculous if check ups are all that's included.

We pay £53 a month. My husband's plan is £7, the rest is mine. He is on the most basic plan which includes check ups twice a year and scale and polish. I'm on the highest as I have very problematic teeth.

Because a gptakes 5/10 minutes, if you can get one, and is probably over the phone! A dentist takes at least 20, has a nurse, uses equipment on each check up which either has to be sterilised or is disposable/ or a combination of both. Takes X-rays if needed, takes more time to look at those and diagnose.

Inbetween each dental patient the chair, spittoon etc… needs to be sprayed down. GPs do non of this

I pay £20 a month and it includes:

2 check ups per year
2 full hygienist appointments per year (these can booked to run straight after the check up which is super handy)
X-rays at no extra cost
20% discount on any fillings
20% discount on most other dental work (excluding hygienist)
20% discount on laboratory based treatments, including crowns, bridges, dentures etc
Wordwide Dental Trauma and Emergency Assistance Scheme
Option for evening appointments

They have cheaper plans and more expensive but this is good for me at the moment. I was with NHS before and the difference is night and day, it’s well worth the money.

Husband goes to a different dentist via work Denplan, he doesn’t think the plan is great but the Dentist is and she kindly took on DD as an nhs patient which is great considering she is going to need braces at some point.

In a cheap area , for a fairly basic dental surgery it costs upwards of £120 an hour per room to run. Most private practices it will be upwards of £180 an hour per room to run.

Most practices will charge £14 to £22 a month for two check ups , two hygiene Visits a year plus x rays , emergency and trauma cover and 20% off cost of treatment.

Schemes such as Denplan care have different fees according to how much work you have had in the past and how healthy your mouth is now. They will cost £24 to £52 ish pounds a month and cover treatment apart from specialist and cosmetic and for anything needing laboratory work you pay the laboratory fees only.

I pay £38 a month Denplan for me my dd. For this we each get

2 x check ups a year
2 x hygienist sessions
all xrays, white fillings, extractions etc included if required

You either take out a plan (. £14pm is pretty cheap ime) or pay privately as you go. Ask for the price list for routine treatments and see which is better value, the monthly plan or putting money aside for when you need it.

£17 pm at my dentist - 2 check ups, 2 hygienist appts, x rays as needed, 20% off all procedures and some other stuff.

I’ve got Denplan and pay £39 but I’ve had a lot of dental problems and now have several crowns and a bridge. For that I get 2 check ups and 2 hygienist appointments a year. All my treatment is included apart from lab fees for any crowns which are £100 per tooth. It’s probably saved me quite a lot of money over the years.

I pay £14 per month and I get 2 check ups, 2 hygienist appointments, 20% off all treatments, free emergency appointments and children under 18 receive free nhs treatment.

Thanks this is really helpful. I'm thinking £14 for just the 2 check ups is expensive compared to what lots of you have - something with hygienist included would seem more reasonable. I'll have a look at what other plans at other practices near me I can find and now I have a yardstick for that seems the right price range.

And for the PP who said a dental app is min 20 minutes, not for me. No more than 10 minutes. And they usually have the next patient in before I've even finished booking my next appointment so the time taken to clean between is minimal.

I pay £15 a month, two check ups and two scale and polishes a year, plus a 10% discount off treatments. Also my kids get free check ups and treatments.

I’m on a very similar plan to you, but I pay £30 a month and get 4 hygienist appointments a year.

I’ve got Denplan and pay £39 but I’ve had a lot of dental problems and now have several crowns and a bridge. For that I get 2 check ups and 2 hygienist appointments a year. All my treatment is included apart from lab fees for any crowns which are £100 per tooth.

Same although I had to pay for £2k of dental work before my dentist would sign me up to the £40 a month plan on Denplan. My latest lab work for an inlay for a back tooth was £180 but I can charge it through my AXA health insurance.

Yes the 2 check ups and 4 hygiene appts plan is £32 here

I think that sounds like good value. Dentistry is hugely expensive. The costs are massive. One small tub of material to make temporary fillings cost £100. Lab bill costs have soared. At times it would be cheaper to give a patient £50 and send them away and not do anything.
There are nurses to pay, PPE, sterilising and cleaning costs, electricity. Gas, water, insurances, indemnity, professional registration, material costs, CPD training, lab costs, radiation/radiology support and costs, IT support, scanning, pressure vessel and radiology maintenance, servicing and insurance, taxes, HR support, stationary, software management, accounting, rent/mortgage, staff training, uniforms, equipment costs and maintenance, ...

I could go on. You get the point? Each consultation isn't just a chat. It's generally a surgical procedure involving the whole team and a pile of materials etc.

Our gas bills alone have increased ten fold over the last year. We used to pay @£300 per month. Now that's £3k per month.

I pay £7.70 a month for 1 check up and and hygienist a year. There’s meant to be a discount on any work done but it’s all very expensive. Luckily to date, I’ve only had one filling and that was 13 years ago.

My dentist has a dign saying £45 for check ups so if treatment isn't covered you are better PAYG. does it include hygienist?

We are on Denplan and joined after I needed a tiny filling, so tiny in fact it was done there and then with no injection and I didn't feel a thing. I think the filling cost me £90 at the time a decade ago which is now from £150.

We pay £25 each per month for me and Dh. A check up is £55 per time and a scale and polish is £75 so we pay £40 more a year than if we paid out of pocket however lots of things are covered under Denplan that makes it like an insurance policy for future issues.

Do you have access to any dental cover through work? Mine has BUPA and mine is paid for (I pay the insurance premium tax on it) and I then pay for DH and DD on it. It comes to about £15.50 a month in total.

That covers two dental check ups each per year (full cost now isn't totally covered - check up is now £39 per adult and we get back £35 of that). Two hygienists visits per year per adult (again actual cost is now a few £s higher). And cover up to a limit for other dental work - it pays 80% of the amount and there is an annual maximum.

So far I'm in profit!

Mine goes up to 25 gbp a month in Jan

2 check ups a year
2 hygieniest a yr

£32/month for Denplan.

2x dentist and 2x hygienist visits per year. Includes X-rays and fillings if needed (they don’t do X-rays every time or even every year). Includes root canals, with the exception of I think £70 for the disposable file(s). Includes emergency appointments if you have toothache.

I am not yet sure if the fee includes crowns. I have a root canal coming up and then my dentist recommends a crown, but I am too chicken to ask how much the crown will be.

I had to pay ~£900 for all the fillings and extractions I needed before I could join Denplan.