Reasonable charges for dental fillings?

bigmuffins

Hi
I made an appointment last week for check up at dentist (private no NHS ones locally :rolleyes: ) as my teeth have been a bit achey at back and sensitive to hot/cold/sweet. Was expecting to have some kind of treatment as thought something wasn't quite right. Anyway dentist said needed 3 fillings 1 lower Rhs, 1 upper Lhs and 1 lower Lhs and could do 2 straight away. Didn't explain any costs to me beforehand, just injected me and started! I was a bit stunned but thought hey needs must! Anyway the 2 on the Lhs were right at the back and he said not surprising really as v difficult to clean this area properly. In fact had difficulty reaching them and my mouth felt a bit manhandled afterwards even with the injections.
I have to go back tomorrow for the other filling on other side.
Anyway the point of my post is to ask whether the charges are reasonable as I nearly passed out in shock when I went to pay! Total cost of last week's 2 fillings, scale and polish and examination: £195 :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
with £75 for the remaining filling!

I know my memory is not too brilliant these days but I seem to recall my last filling being around the £50 mark including checkup! I think it was only about a year/18 months ago.

Can anyone advise please?
Thanks!

specsappeal

Hi big muffins, i also had a check up and rather large filling last week and it cost £105 ( this covered check up,scale and polish and filling) i also had to go back and get another smaller filling a few days later and this was another £60. I am entitled to fee nhs work but choose to save so i can go private as i am a complete wuss when it comes to the dentist!! For me the money is worth it as my dentist is lovely and i never ever have to wait to go in). But my dentist always explains what she is going to do and how much it is before proceeding and when i pay i get a receipt which gives a complete breakdown of the work i have had done and the price. fillings at my dentist vary from £60 - £80 and i have a choice of white ones at no extra cost. Check ups are £50 or £60 if you dont go as often as you should.

Toothsmith

You should really have been given some idea of the cost before the work was done, and I'd be interested to know how long was actually spent getting all this done.

The actual prices sound quite similar to mine, but an exam, clean up and a couple of fillings would be about an hour of appointment time, so I'd probably do it on different occasions.

If I manage to do a lot in one appointment, I generally modify the bill so it reflects more the time spent rather than the items of work done.

bigmuffins

Hi
Thanks Toothsmith - my dentist took about an hour from starting check up and I think went into his lunch break as there wasn't anybody booked after.
Had the 2nd one yesterday, and they gave me itemised receipt for last week and this week's treatment. Doesn't seem as horrendous broken down but still £70 for filling! Will dig it out and list for info in a bit.

BUT the one that he did last thursday fell out yesterday at about 5.30 :eek: - by the time I rang, the surgery was closed of course! :mad:
Called this morning and they have booked me in for later in the week.

My question now is: will I have to pay again or should they do it for free?
I feel they should as the filling fell out within 4 days and I wasn't eating anything hard or sticky! just couple of soft raisins my little one had handed to me!
Had some water this morning and I could REALLY feel it! Is very sensitive and achey.

Toothsmith

That price sounds reasonable for the time spent.

Occasionally things do go a bit wrong! It's always embarassing - and seems to happen most when it most matters!!! New patients you're really trying to impress, or friends or family!!!

I recently took over the care of an older dentist who had just retired, and his family. His wife had a slight accident with a veneer she had and I had to replace it with a new one. The flippin' thing fell off 2 days later, and then again 6 weeks later!!!! I'd just missed the fact that it caught slightly at one point of her bite!!! Soooo embarassing! I'd probably only ever had 2 fall off in that shorter time in my whole carreer so far!

Your filling should be replaced for free, and it's good that they've been able to get you in so quickly to sort it out.

tirednewdad

Of course it is a matter to discuss with your dentist but i would say it would be free.

alison999

bigmuffins wrote: »

BUT the one that he did last thursday fell out yesterday at about 5.30 :eek: - by the time I rang, the surgery was closed of course! :mad:
Called this morning and they have booked me in for later in the week.

My question now is: will I have to pay again or should they do it for free?
I feel they should as the filling fell out within 4 days and I wasn't eating anything hard or sticky! just couple of soft raisins my little one had handed to me!
Had some water this morning and I could REALLY feel it! Is very sensitive and achey.

Even if technically they could charge you again (if youve lost a bit more tooth) chances are they wont out of goodwill.

Its good that you've got a appointment so quick to get it sorted, you could always ask the dentist if he/she knows why it came out so quickly - if theres anything you could be doing to stop it from happening again etc, but some fillings can last 20+ years, others, 20 minutes, just the luck of the draw sometimes