root canal treatment - NHS and private costs & pros and cons

sos1

I had a cavity filled about 2 months ago & went back twice for some of it to be removed as it was too full. I reported twinges in the tooth each time. I now have toothache & it sometimes throbs painfully. I went back to the dentist today & after an xray was told I have an infection & was given antibiotics. They said I could have a root filling and crown or have the tooth out & a bridge. I don't want to lose the tooth. The root filling will cost over £700.
Does this sound right to you? Was the infection bad luck or because something was wrong with the filling? It's a lot of money to pay.

Toothsmith

Is just the root filling £700 or the root filling and crown?

£700 is about right if it's a specialist endodontist (root filler) doing it, but strikes me as a bit dear if it's just being done by your regular dentist.

It's impossible to give the cause of the abscess without knowing a lot more about the condition of the tooth beforehand, or the way it was filled.

I take it that none of this was NHS treatment?

sos1

The cost is £70 for a silver filling, £260 for a root filling & £375 for a crown.
I had no pain in the tooth before the original filling, which was a tooth coloured one as it was near the front.
It's not an NHS dentist but I don't think they are an endodontist.
Is it necessary to have this treatment if the infection clears up after taking antibiotics?
Thanks

Toothsmith

Antibiotics won't clear up the infection.

That's been caused by a dead nerve in the middle of the tooth, and that's the thing that needs to be taken out and the space filled (root filling).

The antibiotics will take away the infection that's formed around the end of the tooth root, and it will take your pain away (Although opening the tooth up and dressing the nerve would have done that quicker). That pain and infection will come back one day though. maybe a few days, maybe weeks, occasionally years - but one thing is for sure, it won't pick a convienient time to come back!

£260 for a root filling from a general private dentist sounds reasonable. Initially you made it sound like £700 was the cost of the root filling and the crown would be extra. That is more in the realms of specialist charges.

For there to be no pain before a dentist starts, but painful afterwards can sometimes happen, and it's a bu££er when it does. The tooth could have been dead for a while, and it was the filling that poked the sleeping dog and woke it up.

This is impossible for me to advise on though, and you need to qustion the dentist to find out why he thinks it happened. It could be unlucky, it could be cackhandedness. Do you think he's a cackhanded dentist? and if so, why do you go??

shehasredhair

They said that there had been boneloss... so not sure

Chris59

Hi all,
I have a small problem with my treatment options that I'm hoping someone can help me with. Sorry to ask a question on my first post! Hopefully I'll be able to pay back the forum at some point.

Around 3 months ago, a large amalgam filling in one of my lower molars broke apart, so I had it looked at by my regular dentist. She told me that the size of the filling might not be viable, so the plan was to crown the tooth when she was available in 6 weeks. A temporary filling went in for the meantime.

Of course, the temporary filling disintegrated within a week, but I had a check-up around this time with another dentist at the same practice, so I mentioned it to her. She noted pus around the tooth, so she took an x-ray (which didn't capture the area under the roots) and told me that I'd need root canal to save the tooth. I found this slightly odd, since I haven't felt any pain or discomfort from the tooth, but I put this down to the nerve possibly being dead already.

She suggested that I visit a local specialist for the procedure, but the estimated cost of that would be around £700, including the requisite crown. Does this seem rather steep to anyone? My father has actually been treated by the same specialist and came away feeling as though he'd been overcharged.

I've been procrastinating over the last few weeks, since I haven't been experiencing any pain or noticed any pus from the tooth. However, I've recently noticed pus around the tooth again so I'll need to do something about this soon.

I'm hoping that someone with some experience may be able to offer some suggestions regarding my options. I've asked the same dentist to investigate the NHS route, but apparently it's a no go...

Many thanks.

Toothsmith

Hi Chris, welcome aboard!

To start with, the cost of the specialist endodontist sounds about right. In fact, I've just noticed it includes the crown - so I would say that's actually quite a good price.

Whether you NEED to see the specialist or whether the dentist you saw was perfectly capable of doing the job (in which case it could be done on the NHS) is a big grey area these days, as NHS dentists are worming their way out of as much complex work as they feel they can get away with.

Had the dentist said she wouldn't do it on the NHS, but she could do it privately, then you would have grounds for a complaint - as any treatment that dentist usually does on those premesis should be available to an NHS patient.

With her saying that it's outside of what she feels comfortable doing though, and suggests you see a specialist, then I can't say whether it's genuine, or buck-passing. There are lots of perfectly valid reasons to refer patients for root fillings.

Sometimes it can be worth a complaint though, as there have been some cases of dentists being forced to pay the referral fees for the patient if they've been caught doing it a bit more often than they really should!

As to the diagnosis - a tooth can be dead and not give symptoms. You can see a dark area above it on an x-ray though.

Chances are though, that one day it would suddenly start with an excruciating toothache. And they never pick convienient times to do that!

Chris59

Hi Toothsmith,
Thanks very much for the response.

I don't mean to sound cynical (I'm not usually, honest!), but I find a second opinion coming from a dentist to be hugely reassuring.

I wasn't given the option of getting the treatment from this practice on the NHS. However, I was offered the option of getting private treatment from either the specialist or the practice. I asked them to investigate local outfits that would provide the treatment on the NHS, but I was told that getting a place in these long waiting lists wasn't really viable.

I'm not really trying to point any fingers, but I'm now satisfied that the endodontist's price isn't too high so I think I'll have to bite the bullet and give him a call.

Thanks again.

Toothsmith

If they offered you the treatment privately at that practice, then you have grounds for a complaint.

All treatment available at a practice is available to an NHS patient on the NHS. (That's the letter of the contract).

If you want to take it further, then have a word with the local Primary Care Trust's dental department.

vanilla

Hi everyone, i don't normally post on this board but i'm in complete agony at the minute and need some advice.

I had a filling done a year ago but after a week i was still in alot of pain so i went back to the dentist (a different one in the same practice) who said i had a hairline crack in it. He took the filling out and put a temporary filling in.

When i went back to see my own dentist i was pregnant so he kept the temporary filling in. Forward nearly a year he tells me i need root canal treatment, at that time i have no pain in that tooth. Anyway i got my root canal done on tuesday and have been in awful pain ever since (it seems to be getting worse), so i went back to the dentist this morning and seen a different dentist and he thought the filling was too high and that was causing the pain so he filed it down. He said the pain should start to go away and be gone in 24-48 hours.

The pain is still just as bad if not abit worse, i rang again and they said that if it gets worse go to the hospital and see the dentist up there. The pain seems to be all in my gum and running up my jaw to my ear. I'm eating painkillers like sweets but i don't know what else to do. I've also tried salt water but nothing is easing it.

Please any help would be great. Is it suppose to be this sore after root canal? Could there be an infection? Or has a root been missed? Any advice would be great.