Teeth cleaning by hygienist - how much?

skintchick

I'm hoping toothsmith will pop in and help me out here, but anyone feel free to post.

I haven;t been to the dentist since 2004 (yes, I know!) but as I'm now pregnant and get free dentristry I thought I'd go.

So, the dentist was very nice, had a look and said I have good teeth (well i do look after them) and he gave me a small filling which didn;t need any injections or drilling, to cover an exposed root, then gave them a quick scrape.

And I mean quick!

He said that they are a bit stained and could do with a proper clean but that takes 20 mins so there isn;t time to do it on the NHS. :rolleyes: Setting aside my feelings about an NHS that doesn;t have time to do something so basic, he then quoted me £62 to have them done by a hygienist! :eek:

It's a 20-min appointment. That sounds STEEP to me.

I wondered if this was normal for the south east? And also wondered, if I can get ti cheaper at another dentist, am I allowed to do that?

I know if it was doctors I could see as many privately as I wanted, but dentists always seem ot be funny about things like that, which is why I gave up on them before.

I can afford £62, but it seems rather a lot of money to me for a simple clean.

Toothsmith

Standard trick in NHS practices.

If your teeth NEED the clean, then it should be available to you on the NHS, be it with the dentist or the hygienist.

If they don't NEED a clean, then they don't need a clean, and you shouldn't pay anything anyway!

But staining isn't a health issue really, it's a cosmetic one. And the NHS isn't there to do cosmetic dentistry.

So, although I think this is a dodge, I think your dentist has said and done the right things to make this right according to the terms of his NHS contract.

You're right though, dentists don't like you swapping and changing your care - especially if it's just based on price. But then, that's not the way to get decent continuing care anyway.

davetrousers

At my (private) Dentist the hygienist charges about £38. And I get a right good telling off for that too!

skintchick

Thanks Toothsmith! I don;t think they look stained, in fact I'm happy with them really, so I'll probably not bother with it if, as you say, anything important would be done on the NHS.

I used to have a private dentist who charged about £30 for a clean so this felt steep.

I'm not that bothered about continuing care though as I have never had problems with my teeth.

aylesby

NHS dentist in Cheshire charged me £30 for the hygenist who worked and talked dental hygine for a full 20 minutes. Reasonable value maybe every other year.

Toothsmith

Dentist wasn't being NHS when he charged you though. That was a private fee.

I have my patients seeing the hygienist 6 monthly, or even 4 monthly. It generally took them a year or two to really see the benefit of this approach, but now, I think I'd be lynched if I told them that I only wanted them to see the hygienist every year or two!

HH62

I see the hygienist at my private dentist every 6 months. I think it's worth the £36 charge.

skintchick

£36 maybe, but £62?!

Toothsmith

£63 at my place - but that's a 1/2 h appointment.

skintchick

Toothsmith wrote: »

£63 at my place - but that's a 1/2 h appointment.

I still think that's too much! I just an;t really justify that amount of money on having my teeth made pretty! I'd rather pay for a full-on whitening treatment.

Toothsmith

Cleaning preserves and maintains the health of the teeth and supporting structures.

Whitening 'makes them pretty'.