Charges for private dental treatment

It's very complex to explain properly, but this has been done 'by the book'.

Sedation is rarely done on the NHS in general practice. White fillings aren't available on the NHS (Do you know all the properties of the chemicals in them BTW?)

Not sure about the x-ray, but I've a feeling there is a 'same tooth' rule. If the tooth is going to be restored privately then the x-ray is private too. I gave up with NHS regulations years ago!

NO filling material is 'safe'.

Amalgam has mercury in it - this is known to be a poison and scares the proverbial out of people.

Now I know a load of nutters are going to come crawling out now - they always do! - But the mercury reacts with the silver alloy and forms a perfectly stable compound (In much the same way as the highly explosive sodium reacts with the highly caustic chlorine to form something we all sprinkle liberally on our chips). A tiny bit of mercury vapour is released when fillings are placed, and when they are removed, but small doses of atomic mercury can be safely excreted from the body.

Some people react to amalgam, but this is not common, always mild, and in 99 cases out of 100 it is due to the traces of nickle in the alloy, not the mercury!

What is much more dangerous are organic mercury compounds such as methyl mercury, which are found a lot in fish. Therefore the average fish supper will do you more harm than a filling.

White composite fillings contain a substance called BIS-GMA. This is the resin that holds it together. This is a nasty little chemical, and has caused contact dermatitis in several dentists, which can be a career threatening problem! They also contain artificial oestrogens; the 'gender bending' chemicals that hit the papers a few years ago when they were short of news.

Another white filling material is Glass Ionomer. These are quite good materials for baby teeth they release flouride (More nutters decend!! :rolleyes: ). They have high amounts of lead salts in them though!!

It always strikes me as amusing that the filling material that has been around the longest, and has the best safety data, as well as clinical effectiveness (amalgam) is the one most pilloried in the papers. It's only because everybody knows that mercury is poisonous. Very few people have heard of BIS-GMA!

My strategy is to hopefully find fillings when they are very tiny and use Glass Ionomer or Composite (To give the kids lead poisoning or turn them all female!). This is because these materials are better suited to tiny holes. With amalgam, you need certain dimensions before you have the material thick enough to last, and also, it does not support undermined tooth very well, so cavity walls have to be straighter. this can result in more tooth than necessary being drilled away. I also tend to do all this on the NHS, although strictly it isn't allowed. However, my kids patients are all from my private adults, so I cross subsidise. This is one of the things that is going to be banned by the great new contract, as you are not allowed to insist that parents become private patients in order to see the kids on the NHS

If a hole was of a certain size anyway, or a kid was in the habit of needing lots of fillings, I would always use amalgam. It is more stable, and more decay resistant than composite, and wears a whole lot better than Glass Ionomer.

I would do exactly the same if it was a child of mine (Although I'd slap myself around the head for not spotting it as a tiny cavity - and then again even harder for feeding them too much sugar!).

The last filling I had - 4 years ago - was an amalgam.

I'm sorry to say there is no need for young children to have fillings today. Dentistry has moved on in the 21st Century. There is no need to use drills and injections anymore.

Ozone is used to treat tooth decay. Further information can be found on this link http://www.the-o-zone.cc/ozone.htm

Sadly NICE has refused to recommend the treatment to NHS until it has long term data on its effectiveness. NICE will review the decision in 2008. Again sadly, thousands of young children suffering from fillings in the meantime.

Toothsmith wrote:

If I had a pound for every gizmo that would 'do away with injections and the drill...' since I've been qualified , and before, I wouldn't need to drill teeth any more!!

Ozone certainly has it's uses, but it is not a miracle cure.

The website is the company's, and the machines sell for £10000+ a pop.

Some of the better Dentists uses Ozone in the UK so hardly a gizmo. True, the machine cost around £10000 but work out to an affordable £20 a week for the next 10 years so it is not that expensive. The treatment cost is similar to that of fillings and is not as evasive as drilling a tooth.

Undisputedtruth