Private Dentist

simonaspinall

I've just had a letter through the post to say my dentist is no longer taking NHS patients.

It's a two month wait to get anything on NHS.

How much should I expect to pay for a private dentist? Never ever considered it before or know anything about it.

Help! Please!

outofbreath2

Unless you're in serious pain and money is an issue, wait 2 months.

I don't think private dentists have a set scale of charges. Some charge like wounded bulls. You'll be surprised at the difference.
http://www.dentalcentres.co.uk/dentist-fees-nhs.php

verylonglegs

My dentist does have a set list of charges but I don’t have them to hand, I know its £35 for six monthly check-ups, about £65 for a minor filling and £95 for a major. I do remember noticing when I first read the list that root canal work was somewhere north of about £400!! That stood out I can tell you and I really hope I avoid that one.

Not sure how they fit in price wise as far as private practice goes, I picked him on location and convenience and didn’t shop around.

Bunneh

Took me a while to get another NHS dentist.

I had to ring the local PCT centre in town on the first Monday of the month, that's when dentists kick off some of their none turning up patients who don't come for their 6 month check-ups. If you have an emergency most towns, and surely Leeds, has a clinic you can go to - they require payment if you have work done but if you're in reciept of benefits you will get it done for nout.

mrushton

As above, there should be a number you contact and the info will be if anyone is taking new NHS patients but this market is shrinking. A dentist I know thro'cycling advised me to just pay as I go for treatment rather than take out insurance but...that also relies on you having a good dental history or no family? I've had quite a bit of work done so I may be a bad risk.

simonaspinall

Cheers folks

WIll go for the wait 2 months option - Just doesn't seem cricket to just kick people out like that - Can you imagine if it was your GP?

Shocking

ilm_zero7

simonaspinall
if you need anything major doing ie over £500 then I would seriously suggest your looked into going to the lebanon for dentistry - their work is first calls and much cheaper and better than most in the uk

1footedninja

I lost my dentist awhile back, at first I was with them on NHS then I was working so went private with them - had a big arguement with them over the right to 'informed consent' about differing ways to actually fill a tooth.

That dentist at the time was going to just fill my teeth with mercury fillings without even actually asking if I wanted them or another viable option such as ceramic/white fillings.

My point at the time wasnt a mercury vs other options being safer arguement but the fact my dentist knew the alternatives but treated me like I was naive and didnt know the options nor was willing to explain to me in laymans terms what the positives and negatives of the differing types of filling where: her answer simply was 'even us dentists have mercury fillings' - That makes it alright then does it?

TBH I now have some white fillings on teeth on my bottom jaw and they never give me problems , I got a mercury filling done on teeth on my top jaw near the back and every so often I get aches and pains from this area where the mercury filling is.And being someone who had fillings as a child, these being mercury fillings can only wonder about any effects they may or may not have had - doesn't bode well does it for my own children - and if they ever have fillings Id like to think they are getting the safest treatment possible. Ok I know its an amalgam etc etc as all dentists will say and advocate mercury is ok , only 3 per cent of the amalgam is mercury etc etc but lets face it , Mercury is a dangerous metal compound and ergo doesnt that make you think that it could indeed be toxic to the human body in some way?

I know there are plenty of studies to back up which ever side of the arguement you want to be on , in the same way their are studies to either negate or back up aspartime etc.

what it comes down to is half the dentists I have ever been to are just quacks, trying to fleece as many genuine honest working people into thinking having perfectly white teeth and the Hollywood smile is normal (and of course quite costly) - the other bit that gets my goat is most of them train on the NHS out of taxpayers money then once they get certified , straight onto private , the money grubbing t**ts.

I have a great dentist now who actually explains things to me and talks to me like an intelligent human being rather than someone to scam a few extra bucks out of so they can afford to put their 5 kids through private school and keep up with paying the bills on their large detached house in the country with 4/5 acres of land.


capiche?

dilemna

1footedninja wrote:

I lost my dentist awhile back, at first I was with them on NHS then I was working so went private with them - had a big arguement with them over the right to 'informed consent' about differing ways to actually fill a tooth.

That dentist at the time was going to just fill my teeth with mercury fillings without even actually asking if I wanted them or another viable option such as ceramic/white fillings.

My point at the time wasnt a mercury vs other options being safer arguement but the fact my dentist knew the alternatives but treated me like I was naive and didnt know the options nor was willing to explain to me in laymans terms what the positives and negatives of the differing types of filling where: her answer simply was 'even us dentists have mercury fillings' - That makes it alright then does it?

TBH I now have some white fillings on teeth on my bottom jaw and they never give me problems , I got a mercury filling done on teeth on my top jaw near the back and every so often I get aches and pains from this area where the mercury filling is.And being someone who had fillings as a child, these being mercury fillings can only wonder about any effects they may or may not have had - doesn't bode well does it for my own children - and if they ever have fillings Id like to think they are getting the safest treatment possible. Ok I know its an amalgam etc etc as all dentists will say and advocate mercury is ok , only 3 per cent of the amalgam is mercury etc etc but lets face it , Mercury is a dangerous metal compound and ergo doesnt that make you think that it could indeed be toxic to the human body in some way?

I know there are plenty of studies to back up which ever side of the arguement you want to be on , in the same way their are studies to either negate or back up aspartime etc.

what it comes down to is half the dentists I have ever been to are just quacks, trying to fleece as many genuine honest working people into thinking having perfectly white teeth and the Hollywood smile is normal (and of course quite costly) - the other bit that gets my goat is most of them train on the NHS out of taxpayers money then once they get certified , straight onto private , the money grubbing t**ts.

I have a great dentist now who actually explains things to me and talks to me like an intelligent human being rather than someone to scam a few extra bucks out of so they can afford to put their 5 kids through private school and keep up with paying the bills on their large detached house in the country with 4/5 acres of land.


capiche?

Wow .................. are you sure dentist was the medical specialist you needed?

Pyschiatrist perhaps?

What annoys me is that people will spend hundreds or thousands on a flat screen tv or an expensive road bike or set of wheels, but really begrudge paying a dentist who has studied for 6-7 years £40-60 a year to keep their teeth in good order. Half the problems are self inflicted anyway as people eat an atrocious diet, smoke and booze with little regard for their teeth until they are in pain then they expect the State to pick up the bill ...................

£40, 50 or £60 is not a lot to pay to have your teeth checked every 9 months. If you keep them clean and eat a good diet then you aren't going to stung with huge charges. A lot of people spend £100 getting pi55ed up on a friday or saturday night ...............

anto164

At my dentist, i pay £21 per year to be on the books, and £18 per checkup (Not bad for 5 mins work eh!). (Goes up to £26 if they give them a scrub).

They offer different schemes for people requiring different treatment, i.e the dentist has hooked up with a dental insurance scheme which they encourage everyone to join (And recommend which band to be in) ranging from what i pay (£21 per year, then pay for all treatment) up to something like £25 per month which pays for 2 checkups and lots of treatment.

Cleat Eastwood

1footedninja wrote:

what it comes down to is half the dentists I have ever been to are just quacks, trying to fleece as many genuine honest working people into thinking having perfectly white teeth and the Hollywood smile is normal (and of course quite costly) - the other bit that gets my goat is most of them train on the NHS out of taxpayers money then once they get certified , straight onto private , the money grubbing t**ts.

That rings true. I went to the dent about 5 years ago and was told i needed root canal work. Duly had it done. Went back year later same dental practice different dentist to told that the work on the tooth was abysmal. When I told the doc it was root canal work he answered that it certainly wasnt root canal work and that I shouldnt havepaid for the work......when he asked who did the work and I told him it was is partner he went suspiciously quiet.

dilemna wrote:

A lot of people spend £100 getting pi55ed up on a friday or saturday night ...............

Like who?

jim453

I totally agree with 1footedninja.

It's utterly scandalous that so many people cannot get NHS dental treatment.

What the hell is going on?

Bunneh

I used to be a technician making falsers, etc and the money we made by doing, what was illegal back then, foreigners was quite impressive but we were still 70% cheaper than your average dental surgeon.

I remember the first day I got a cut from the work we did on a ladies upper and lower partials, chrome, gold, the works. On top of my then £90 a week I got another 30 quid. To an 18 yr old that was a lot back then. Then I lost that job and had an interview at another lab - starting wage in 1994? £250 a week for 18! When I improved, ie got faster, it would raise another 100 and also raise with my age. Sadly I can't get that work now unless I get registered with the dental association; and I'm too dumb to do the courses yet I was an exceptionally good technician.

After years of searching I found a dentist back in 2002. He said I needed an extraction and some fillings and due to my nature back then I wanted sedating. He sent me to Salford to a dentist who had a sedation person (can't spell anesthatist...). The surgeon spent more time talking on her mobile than doing her job; she filled the wrong tooth, she filled another badly which cracked after 2 months. Only thing she did right was extrat the tooth...

I finally got a good dentist near me, Andrew Bennison. The 'lad' who did my last extraction and fillings did an amazing job, and put me at ease. He took out my upper right 6, which had pretty much broken down to the root - took him 30 minutes to get it out, literally pushing me about on the chair as he tried to pry it out. Never felt a thing I might add!

bexley5200

private £480 for 1 bridge thats 1 small tooth

Monty Dog

I pay about £22/month for dental insurance which covers check-ups, hygienist and any treatments for free. This last year I've had a crown and a root canal - would have cost over £600 if I'd walked in off the street. BTW, there are no NHS dentists around here either and the quality of care is first class - I don't begrudge £250/year. My childhood dentist was a butcher in comparison.

unixnerd

Interesting bit of trivia, we have North Koreans to thank for our dental system! Initial the idea was to include dental care in the new NHS. But when the Korean war broke out the government was so short of cash they had to drop the idea.

ConsciousPilot

I also have dental insurance (£17pcm) which covers check-ups and hygeinist visit twice per year and minor treatments including one crown per year. Level of payment depends on the general condition of your teeth & gums. I consider it good value, especially after a friend almost lost all his teeth due to negligent NHS dentist.

verylonglegs

dilemna wrote:

1footedninja wrote:

I lost my dentist awhile back, at first I was with them on NHS then I was working so went private with them - had a big arguement with them over the right to 'informed consent' about differing ways to actually fill a tooth.

That dentist at the time was going to just fill my teeth with mercury fillings without even actually asking if I wanted them or another viable option such as ceramic/white fillings.

My point at the time wasnt a mercury vs other options being safer arguement but the fact my dentist knew the alternatives but treated me like I was naive and didnt know the options nor was willing to explain to me in laymans terms what the positives and negatives of the differing types of filling where: her answer simply was 'even us dentists have mercury fillings' - That makes it alright then does it?

TBH I now have some white fillings on teeth on my bottom jaw and they never give me problems , I got a mercury filling done on teeth on my top jaw near the back and every so often I get aches and pains from this area where the mercury filling is.And being someone who had fillings as a child, these being mercury fillings can only wonder about any effects they may or may not have had - doesn't bode well does it for my own children - and if they ever have fillings Id like to think they are getting the safest treatment possible. Ok I know its an amalgam etc etc as all dentists will say and advocate mercury is ok , only 3 per cent of the amalgam is mercury etc etc but lets face it , Mercury is a dangerous metal compound and ergo doesnt that make you think that it could indeed be toxic to the human body in some way?

I know there are plenty of studies to back up which ever side of the arguement you want to be on , in the same way their are studies to either negate or back up aspartime etc.

what it comes down to is half the dentists I have ever been to are just quacks, trying to fleece as many genuine honest working people into thinking having perfectly white teeth and the Hollywood smile is normal (and of course quite costly) - the other bit that gets my goat is most of them train on the NHS out of taxpayers money then once they get certified , straight onto private , the money grubbing t**ts.

I have a great dentist now who actually explains things to me and talks to me like an intelligent human being rather than someone to scam a few extra bucks out of so they can afford to put their 5 kids through private school and keep up with paying the bills on their large detached house in the country with 4/5 acres of land.


capiche?

Wow .................. are you sure dentist was the medical specialist you needed?

Pyschiatrist perhaps?

What annoys me is that people will spend hundreds or thousands on a flat screen tv or an expensive road bike or set of wheels, but really begrudge paying a dentist who has studied for 6-7 years £40-60 a year to keep their teeth in good order. Half the problems are self inflicted anyway as people eat an atrocious diet, smoke and booze with little regard for their teeth until they are in pain then they expect the State to pick up the bill ...................

£40, 50 or £60 is not a lot to pay to have your teeth checked every 9 months. If you keep them clean and eat a good diet then you aren't going to stung with huge charges. A lot of people spend £100 getting pi55ed up on a friday or saturday night ...............

He was only really pointing out the ongoing debate about the safety of amalgam fillings was he not? And I can appreciate what he says about some private dentists, I left one practice because I seemed to be paying an awful lot for little in return and the waiting room table was full of sailing magazines and pride of place in the treatment room for all his patients to see was a picture of his yacht on the wall! Talk about rub it in.

I recognise others comments about NHS dentists through childhood, its why I went private as soon as I had the cash. They tended to have the 'lets see how it goes' attitude rather than actually recommending treatment leaving me with a lot of problems now due to overcrowding. It's finding that happy medium of a private practice that doesn't skimp on what's needed like the NHS might but at the same time isn't treating you like a cash machine.

1footedninja

dilemna wrote:

Wow .................. are you sure dentist was the medical specialist you needed?

Pyschiatrist perhaps?

What annoys me is that people will spend hundreds or thousands on a flat screen tv or an expensive road bike or set of wheels, but really begrudge paying a dentist who has studied for 6-7 years £40-60 a year to keep their teeth in good order. Half the problems are self inflicted anyway as people eat an atrocious diet, smoke and booze with little regard for their teeth until they are in pain then they expect the State to pick up the bill ...................

£40, 50 or £60 is not a lot to pay to have your teeth checked every 9 months. If you keep them clean and eat a good diet then you aren't going to stung with huge charges. A lot of people spend £100 getting pi55ed up on a friday or saturday night ...............

Your potshots at me are really boring. Your not even witty about it.

Your opinions on 'looking after your teeth' come across as condescending and pious.

Not everyone has the luxury of being able to look after their teeth in the same way you describe. Therefore to state £40-60 a year as a base figure to keep your teeth in shape, sorry you don't have a clue do you really.

I also see you as coming across as being correct about people not looking after their teeth and then once damage is done having to pay out quite a bit to get them in better shape, unfortunately that has happened to me a few times, mainly due to my life at certain points in time being about moving about alot and not being able to look after my teeth as well as I would have liked to , we don't all have the luxury of ever being in one job, living in one place and attending the same dentist for that amount of time that we get to know our dentist intimately enough to send each other Christmas cards every year. As a result my teeth have ended up costing me a little bit to get them 'corrected' to some degree - also due to accidents involving my teeth being damaged I have had to pay 'out my nose' to get them looking in far better shape - just to be able to get work and not look like - what some would see as looking like a stereotypical crackhead - which I'm not. (A crackhead that is, I'm possibly a stereotype though)

When you have less than perfect teeth you soon see how those with 'Hollywood smiles' (and can afford to keep those Hollywood smiles being whiter than white) look down upon those they see as not having teeth in good shape as 'inferior' , its like a caste system mentality and the superficiality of that mentality is all too prevalent within regards to certain parts of society and is becoming more widely accepted as de rigeur.

How sad and selfish people have become to their fellow man, and how quickly to judge others by their own standards/predjudices/protocols or lack of.

I do keep my teeth in good shape now, it took me awhile to get into this positon where I can do this, I've never expected anything, especially, as you say, 'the state' to pick up the bill but yeah at times this has been the case, I have been entitled to this at varying points in my life, so would be daft to not take the cheaper option on my pocket - yeah I get 'the taxpayer ends up paying' part of the counter arguement to my statement, that some will no doubt think - I'm a taxpayer myself and have poured thousands of pounds into the taxpayers coffers, so again if you feel like condescending people in slightly differing positions of financial solvency to yourself, go for it, I certainly wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth and have earned everything I own, I'm a part of this 'nanny state' as much as the next person is or is not and so it is for a vast swathe of people in this country that they have to be like this also and therefore it sticks in peoples craw because these very same dentists who used the taxpayers money to get their dentists diplomas/education then dismiss these very same people who might have changed in regards to their financial situation, for better or worse whilst the dentists themselves 'get fat' off those who are in a position of financial solvency to be able to pay these dentists the amounts of monies these dentists wish to be payed for their services rendered - we move one step nearer to being a capitalist oligarchy, if we are not one already. Therefore it also becomes all the more disgusting to hear viewpoints such as yours dilemna, telling me how to look after my teeth, the dilemna way (big smile - TING!).

Yes your right, people will pay lots on a television etc and nothing hardly on keeping their teeth in shape, but got to say thats a pretty crap comparison really when you actually think about it.

verylonglegs - right with you on your viewpoint.

Bar Shaker

Denplan, can#t beat it.

That said I had 1.5 hours work to rebuild a cracked molar in Tignes in January. Perfect job that came to €70.

tlw1

My dentist owns a ferrari F40 & a Ferrari 550