UKC

A quick question :

My wife has two baby teeth left ( I didn't know this could happen) anyway they are on their way out and the dentist quoted £2000 per tooth to replace. Both being teachers this comes as quite a shock given the man hours involved. We've just had an extension costing £40,000 that took 3 months.
Is there anyway this could be done cheaper, I don't mean cheap but I mean a realistic cost and not helping the dentist to pay off his new Lamborghini a little quicker. This is a NHS dentist. Well.


Thanks.

In reply to Fluvial:

Sorry meant to so NHS dentist as well

In reply to Fluvial:

Are you sure that is an NHS price and not a Private price? It should cost no more than £209.00 with the NHS

http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/nhs-dental-cha...

It would be under band 3

In reply to Fluvial: they don't replace baby teeth as far as I know as they do are not a part of a smile. It isn't uncommon to have baby teeth into adulthood. I suspect that the figure you have been given will be for a private dentist. NHS don't preform these procedures as they are not apart of their budget, so they will most likely send you to a private dentist at your own cost.

In reply to JoshOvki:
Thanks for that however reading some the comments beneath it looks a little bit of a minefield when it comes to charges

In reply to Lady Jane Grey:

Hmmm. Worrying though one is the second molar on one side and the first molar on the other - would that make a difference?

In reply to Fluvial: Is this for implants? If so then this can be done via the NHS if it is critical or you lose teeth as a result of, say cancer (as with a friend of mine).
My brother (private dentist) does implants at around £1800 per implant (depending on the location, any bone grafting involved) and knowing what I know about the length of time he spent training and the costs involved i'd wilingly pay up if I wanted the teeth that badly.
Its often not the time spent by the dentist, but the lab fees which the dentist has little control over.

In reply to Haych: Seconded, this quote sounds like implants. We are obliged to give patients all the option which are appropriate, which in an NHS practice means giving the patient the NHS options (probably a denture in this case, can't possibly know for sure without seeing the patient), plus any private options e.g. implants.

In reply to Fluvial:
Reminds me of a story a chap at work told me about his visit to the dentist:

"How much to have all four wisdom teeth taken out?"
"That would be £180 per tooth, so £720, sir."
"Blimey, that's way too dear."
"It's the anaesthetic, sir. It is very expensive."
"Well.... how much would it be without anaesthetic?"
"Without anaesthetic, that would come to £300."
"Excellent. Can I book the wife in for Friday?"

In reply to Tony Naylor:

nice!

I am getting 4 implants later on this year (after my braces come off!) at a cost of about 800£ each.
New York trained American dentist currently living here in the Dominican Republic with prices about 3 times cheaper than NY.
Maybe consider a trip abroad....you'll get a free Carribean holiday at least

In reply to Fluvial:

Quite a few examples now of 'dental tourism' - to places like Slovakia, Poland or Croatia...excellent standard of dentistry & cheaper by far than UK. Combine with a nice few days climbing in one of these locations - job's a good 'un.

In reply to Greenbanks: Certainly an option, but be careful. I have had several patients who have gone for this, been promised things like '100% success rates' (nothing in dentistry has 100% success rate except maybe an extraction), been given substandard care and then when things start to fall in bits in a year or so the patient has had ended up paying a fortune in the UK for things to be put right because the overseas dentist doesn't want to know.

In reply to Mighty Max:

And i spent years going to an NHS dentist in the UK only to find that most of the work they did was substandard and nowhere near as good as the dentistry that i have experienced here in this 'developing' country.

UK dentistry is still in the stone-age as far i can see

In reply to kieran b: Just remember the NHS is trying to provide cheap (for many people free) basic dental care for millions of people, many with very poor oral health/years of neglect, and that elsewhere in the world, dental care is seen as a luxury (I don't know about DR i'm afraid) for people who can pay. Whether or not the work in your mouth was substandard or not nobody on here can say without seeing it. Either way, the Americans seem to lead the way, especially on the cosmetic side of things so hopefully your in good hands and things work out. Implants are one of the most reliable forms of treatment.

In reply to Mighty Max:
substandard it was...i have seen xrays of one of my root canals and you could clearly see that they hadnt filled to the ends of the roots thus leading to a subsequent reinfection and having the root canal redone here....properly this time.
And thats just for starters.

My mistake was thinking that i was getting good quality dentistry on the cheap with the NHS but i was getting shoddy rushed work that is now costing me thousands to correct.

I have now learned my lesson....some things in life are worth paying more for

ps sorry if you are a stressed NHS dentist but i am more than a little cheesed-off right now!

In reply to kieran b:


hehe no worries I'm not surprised you are cheesed off!
With regards to your root canal that doesn't sound good and I hope you weren't put in too much pain. Sounds like your new guy is good at explaining the problems as well as treating them (which is important), and just remember implants sometimes take a while to get to completion but will be more than worth it. And for goodness sake once they are in keep them spotlessly clean!

In reply to Fluvial:

I wondered if this was a troll. Why mention being teachers in reference to the cost, and then mention an expensive renovation?

£2k is expensive. I think the top quality cad/cam ceramic tooth with implant is about that much. Which won't be NHS.

In reply to Philip:

That would be 5 months @ 40k as opposed to 2hrs for 2k I was making a comparison we spent years saving for the extension and will spend years paying it off

In reply to Mighty Max:

Cheers sounds better will have to wait and see. Thanks for the help

In reply to Fluvial: Sounds like a quote as a private to me. I think you only get stuff done on the NHS if it is medically required, so the extraction may be quite cheap but you would be left with a gap. Given that it is private work, ring around for quotes. If it is any guide, my wife had two enamels done on her front teeth for £1000. A lot of work goes into manufacturing the new teeth (by hand) and colour matching them to your existing teeth. The actual fitting it probably the tip of the iceberg of work that goes into the process.

In reply to EeeByGum:

Cheers will do.

In reply to Mighty Max:

I've seen plenty of those that had been only about 75% successful!

In reply to Dave Garnett: I did say maybe!!!!! Depends how you look at it I suppose.