When did dental crowns become so expensive?

[Tolkienista]

I'm 66 and I'd describe myself as having a complicated dental life. I have a dentist, a periodontist (since 2002) and a hygienist too..... every 4 months.
I'm fastidious in my day to day cleaning regime & it's paid off. I've held on to the majority of my teeth & lost just one tooth in 22 years.

Yesterday I had my annual NHS dental checkup. He took x-rays too. I have a very positive relationship with my dentist and
when he said we need to look at two particular areas, I knew something was coming!

Anyway, one crown fitted in 2009 LR5 needed replacing. Another tooth LL5 previously root filled in 2016 and very thin on tooth, heavily filled, needed a crown.
He had a cancellation for the afternoon and fitted me in for the crown preps so I'm currently awaiting the real crowns to be fitted on September 25th.

However, it was the cost that shocked me. In 2009 the LR5 crown cost £189.
Fast forward to 2024 I'm paying £740 per crown.
Yes I know dental costs have risen.
I was in the chair for a good hour, so that has to be factored in too.
I'd be grateful for anyone who is in the dental profession to explain how costs have risen so dramatically.
Thankfully i'm in a position where I can afford the treatment.
Any contributions to this discussion gratefully accepted.

I believe he fitted you into a private appointment for the crowns.

It would have been £319 (Band 3) on the NHS for all treatment including your check up.

I would clarify.

I was recently quoted £319 for the metal crown.

£590 for a composite crown (white)

£740 for porcelain

The metal crown is NHS. The other two are considered cosmetic so are private.

I paid £500 a crown in 2007 before I had DD. This was private so maybe different to NHS.

Yes you're quite right, I should have clarified that.
Metal crowns were a possibility, but so near the front of my mouth, was not viable, it would be very visible in my smile line.
I already have one metal crown on a molar fitted many many years ago.

I've been lucky to not need any NHS dental treatment since 2018 apart from check ups, so I'm guessing that the cost of crowns has risen to a level that I wasn't honestly expecting.
I've just qualified for my state pension on September 1st, so the first month's pension will pay for one crown and a bit towards the other.

I paid £900 for a crown in 2003 ( admittedly in London ) but it's known dentist treatment is hugely expensive , the NHS if you have one will do the basics but for looks / athsetics you'd need to go private. It's why people go to Turkey .

I sympathise. I am your age and I to have each tooth crowned, because of wear and also because of poor dentistry in the 60s and 70s. But first my bottom teeth have to be straightened- because of poor genetics they lean inwards and don’t meet the upper ones properly. That’s each tooth being crowned. Goodby to my new kitchen. People say that I must be being ripped off but I know it’s just the going rate.

if you can get it done ON the NHS, but that’s not a given. Plus the materials used will be of poorer quality and won’t last as long, so false economy . I have reason to know, from direct experience and research.

I think that white crowns - like white fillings - count as private treatment, NHS will be cheaper but metal. I would query a pp that the NHS use cheaper quality materials though - gold lasts much longer for crowns than porcelain does, even though it doesn't look as good. I have a gold crown that was done on the NHS a few years ago, it was £189 for the whole treatment including root canal. Fortunately it's near the back of my mouth so doesn't really show.

Dental inflation ie the costs of materials has been running at over 10% per year for at least a decade. Dental indemnity , and regulatory costs have been increasing at more than this .

Technology in dentistry is advancing all the time and this makes equipment and materials even more expensive eg just the priming glue you use before the bonding glue in cementing a crown costs £100 for a 5ml bottle .

The cost , per hour , of running one room in a private practice in a relatively cheap area will be upwards of £240 an hour , in an expensive area or high end practice you will be talking a lot more than this .

Dental laboratories have been going bust at a rate of knots and have had to increase their costs to survive and the laboratory cost alone of one crown will be more than you paid on the NHS in 2009 .

You also have to factor in for the cost of private treatment that a certain proportion of crowns may need to be remade ie to get the looks or the bite exactly right , and that a certain amount may need to be remade within the guarantee period .

NHS fees do not , often, even cover the costs of NHS treatment , even when metal crowns are used , and very often a practice makes a loss on root treatment , multiple crowns etc . Private treatment actually covers practice costs and pays the dentist .

@Lollygaggle you know your stuff!
A very informed answer to my question and that puts a lot of things into perspective, explaining why costs have risen so dramatically.
Honestly if you'd put me on the spot & asked me before the appointment how much a crown was, I wouldn't have had a clue, but I feel so much more informed now thanks to the wonderful community on here.
Thanks for your time

Yes good point about the gold crown, mine too has been lurking near the back of my mouth for decades. I've never had an issue with it all.

@HoppityBun i too am in your position, I look at younger people with envy.
Yes I've hung on to my teeth, by following a very strict intense cleaning regime, but it comes at a price.

Good points made @ hattie43.
We did discuss Turkey teeth and he admitted he has had a few patients who've returned from Turkey with teeth that have become problematic.
It's just not for me. At my age and with my dental history, I want my work done here so that if there's a problem I'm only a 10 min drive away.

Just a footnote to my thread.
Bumped into an ex colleague today, told her about my appointment on Wednesday and needing two crowns......i didn't mention the price i was paying.
She in turn told me about her sister who has recently returned from Antalya in Turkey and paid @£200 per crown to be fitted.
So there's a whole new thread in that price from Turkey alone.

Average gross salary in Turkey is a little under £12,000 a year, average gross salary U.K. £35,000 a year .

Cost of any business is much cheaper in Turkey , wages, property etc are considerably cheaper , but also dentistry in U.K. is more highly regulated than almost anywhere else with associated costs eg nurses , technicians must be registered and do yearly cpd , they do not need to be in Turkey.

I would also guess that the treatment in Turkey involved many crowns . I have seen many cases of 20 plus crowns placed in one treatment in Turkey . In many years of practice I have never placed crowns into double figures on a single patient over decades of treating them and have very ,very rarely seen a colleague practicing in this country placing so many crowns.

@Lollygaggle thanks again for your very knowledgeable input.
Speaking as a patient, I'm guessing that is a staggering amount of dental work to prepare and fit so many crowns to one mouth in the space of a week.
It seems to me that people are embarking on a dental journey in a different country that they cannot possibly understand the long term consequences of, based on cost.
Scary.