I'm looking to set up with a dentist, and obviously I'd prefer an NHS one if possible to keep costs down, but it looks like that won't really be easy in my local area. I assume a private practice will charge more, but can anyone give me a vague idea of how much more? Are we talking hundreds of pounds for a checkup or just an extra 10% over an NHS one?
I've never had to actually do this before so forgive my ignorance.
Posted Aug 13, 2015, 3:33 PM UTC
Have you used NHS Choices to search your area? They list which dentists in your radius will/won't accept NHS patients. I never knew this and had merrily been paying private-patient checkup costs (£45 if I remember rightly!) until someone in a thread on here about a year ago said that you can ask dentists if they accept NHS and pay those rates instead.
When I was looking for a dentist, that site was woefully out of date. The vast majority of dentists listed as taking adult NHS patients on there had gone either totally private, weren't taken on new NHS patients, or were only taking on children.
When I was looking for a dentist in June it was ridiculously out of date. I doubt it would have changed since then.
The reason I'm private is that when I tried to find an NHS dentist the only one in the area that was taking patients said it would take 3-6 months to get an initial appointment.
I believe it varies per place. Obviously there will be places that charge more than others as they are nicer etc. Call up and ask each place for a price or even call the NHS regarding advice on what to do as there are no practices near you.
I assume a private practice will charge more
Not always. I use a private dentist who charges NHS rates.
I pay £12 a month for dental insurance and they give me two checkups, plus a clean and a polish, a year for 'free'.
I got a good deal, but I do have a cap and a potential for another, so someone with perfect teeth might get a better deal.
My last visit to the dentists for a checkup and a hygiene appointment cost me £120. I'm a private patient. My partner spends about £20 for an NHS checkup.
The Oasis chain of dentists have a budget plan, but it is still dear compared to NHS as you pay for each thing you have done, not for the course, still it is better than some private rates. I was once given an estimate for a root canal on a tiny premolar of nearly £600, and this was about 12 years ago! Found an NHS dentists who did it for £80. Sadly can't find an NHS dentist anywhere near where I live so may have to resort to Oasis.
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NHS banded costs for dental treatment.
Private in my local dentist is way, way more.
Definitely go NHS if you can.
I recently had a tooth abscess in a tooth I smashed when I was a kid. In all I had 3 appointments. She drained the tooth abscess, next appointment she put in a kind of temporary root canal and in the final appointment she finished the root canal. All of this cost me £30.
Tooth abscess was the worst pain I've ever felt for 3 days, so a £400 bill on top of that would have been ultra shitty.
I guess it also depends on the quality of the dentist, I'm lucky that mine is very good.