Is this an average/good price for porcelain crowns?

Angie74

I have been quoted £350 per crown for all porcelain crowns. I need 8 doing in total, which would be all my top front teeth, from the front two going back either side. I was quoted £225 per crown if I wanted normal metal based crowns, but I want the porcelain ones. I have crowns on most of them already but I don't like the colour and they don't match my other teeth.

I live in the North west, and have a friend in Croydon who said he got a porcelain crown for around £200, so he thinks I should ask about for a better price (as he would be lending me the money, and doesn't want me getting ripped off) but I think that's about the average price that I've been quoted. Plus I'm an nhs patient at my dentist and I don't pay for treatment at the moment, and I'm abit worried that if I went somewhere else for treatment, they wouldn't want to treat me afterwards?

I would be getting them all done at the same time, or whatever the dentist suggests is better for me. She did say it would be better to get them all done at the same time because of the colour issue. I want them alot whiter than they are at the moment.

So is this a good price? Am I likely to get them any cheaper anywhere else?

Thanks in advance

BitterAndTwisted

It's always possible to get something for a little bit less but the most important thing to me is the relationship I have with my dentist. The charge you've been quoted doesn't seem excessive to me and if you do have a good relationship with a dentist you trust, I'd go with them over anyone else in a heartbeat.

tirednewdad

You have a resonable good quote for the price of the crowns. Are you sure that your friend hadn't had an NHS crown?

In the end the whole point of the website is moneysaving, but its moneysaving by getting value for money. You might get a cheaper price elsewhere, but do you know you can trust the person who is doing it compared with your dentist you currently have?

Good luck with your choice.

Toothsmith

What they said.

Angie74

Thanks for your replies.

Tbh I'm not sure I trust my dentist that much. I had to change dentists (within the same practice) as he put the wrong colour crowns in, and when I said I wasn't happy with the colour (he didn't let me agree to the colour when he chose it) he just said I should live with the colour for a while, and if I really couldn't live with it, he would change them, but when I asked about getting them changed he just told me I couldn't and that I should have told him I didn't like them before he glued them in. I DID!!! I was fuming, so I changed to someone else. I've had one crown done by my current dentist and I don't like that one either, but I'm prepared to take the responsibility for that one as I was responsible for choosing the colour, I just didn't realise it would be so big, and when I told her it didn't match the tooth on the other side, she tried to tell me thats how it was supposed to look.

She is better than my last one, and I do think she will let me decide if I don't like them (as she said, but then so did the last one) I think I might get a better service as I am paying? As in I'll be able to definitely say and get them changed before they glue them in if I don't like them.

I don't mind paying that price and think it's probably an average price for porcelain crowns, and if I could get cheaper elsewhere it wouldn't be alot of difference. I just need to convince my friend that I am getting a decent price so he will lend me the money hehe.

I don't think he had an nhs crown, he has a good job, so pays for his dental work. I think the price he's telling me is way too cheap for a porcelain crown, so maybe he's got it wrong? Maybe I should get him to ring his dentist and ask how much crowns are, to put his mind at rest

I did get to see the dental nurses porcelain crowns and they looked good, so I'm really keen to get mine done asap. I presume she had them done at the same surgery.

Toothsmith

Given that history, I would charge you a LOT more for anything!

Angie74

Not sure what you mean by that Toothsmith???

brook2jack

If you want to be absolutely sure you are happy with shape of crowns then provisional (temporary) crowns can be placed and adapted until you are happy with shape. Laboratories will charge for these custom made temporary crowns.

Of you are not happy with colour of crowns they can be tried in before glazing and some adjustment done with different glazes. This is expensive in time and materials.

Very very natural looking crowns can be made with very very good laboratories. A high quality crown can cost £400 from the lab even without the dentist costs.

All of this adds to costs hugely. A history of two lots of crowns you are not happy with would mean a dentist has to factor in the possible costs of remaking crowns you are not happy with or the extra time that might be involved.

Angie74

Thanks for your reply brook2jack.

I was happy with the crowns I had before they were replaced with the ones that are the wrong colour. Even the new dentist I changed to said they were the wrong colour. I only had them replaced because the gum had receeded. I would have preferred them replaced with the same colour. He told me they were too white, but the new ones still didn't match my other teeth, and I can always bleach my other teeth if I needed to, so I'd prefer them too white than yellow.

I'm not just being awkward. I think I should be allowed to choose the colour of my teeth and agree to them before they are glued in and I'm made to live with them whether I like it or not, especially as I wasn't given a choice in the colour. I didn't question the colour at the time as I just assumed he would replace them with the same colour that they were, so I was abit shocked when he placed them in my mouth and they were very yellow looking. It was at this point I said they were abit yellow, and he told me to live with them and he would change them if I couldn't. I didn't want to make a fuss so I just agreed to this, hoping I'd either get used to it or he would change them if I didn't. I didn't and never will,. hence why I am prepared to pay for porcelain crowns now and hope I get a better colour.

donteatthat

All-porcelain crowns vs metal-porcelain crowns - no difference in how good they look as long as made by a good ceramicist. You also can't whiten teeth to match porcelain, it doesn't work that way round you have to match the porcelain to the shade of the teeth.
How about asking the dentist also next time if you can go to the lab for a shade matching with the technician, that way you can be more sure that what you are getting what you want?
Also - if unsure about the colour, ask them to be cemented with a temporary cement that way, easier (usually) to remove them if you don't like them