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

Nile

Hello xadoc

I hope you don't mind me responding to your question:

Could you point me in the direction of your other post about 'targets', I don't want to ask you to repeat yourself, you've been more than kind enough. I didn't know dentists had targets! Is it a bit like traffic wardens!?

The following thread contains a comment by Toothsmith (post #4) about targets for NHS dentists?

'Extractions vs Root Canal?'

You might have to wait a while for Toothsmith to respond to the other questions you raised. I believe his is away on holiday.;)

There is another dentist member of the site called Teerah...........who might see this thread and reply to your other questions.

Kind Regards

Nile

xadoc

Thanks - I've read that now. How utterly ludicrous!!

So if you can't afford to pay for decent treatment the likelihood is that you'll get substandard treatment from dentists who'd probably rather do the right thing but can't - they're running a business after all?!

Sigh. I was chuffed to get an NHS dentist. Now I understand why there are so few (although Birmingham is well supplied).

Toothsmith

I'm not off on hols 'till later today!

xadoc wrote:

I wasn't reading between the lines and thinking oh - more efficient for him; cheapskate option? I was thinking oh great, less time and pain for me. I didn't think at any point about what would be the best option, as obviously I don't know anything about it. Now reading back I'm thinking no antibiotics, cheaper for him, no anaesthetic, cheaper for him, quick filling, cheaper for him. Hmmm.

Yes cheaper for him, and also cheaper for the Department of Health who knew exactly what they were doing when they introduced this contract last April.

You're no different from the majority of the population who wouldn't recognise the difference between good & bad dentistry. Even a bad filling can last 5+ years but when it breaks the tooth will have been destroyed. A good filling will last much longer, and when it breaks, it should be recoverable. (Unless the filling is huge to start with)

So long as nothing hurts, most people will think everything is fine.

xadoc wrote:

A filling isn't the same price as a root canal on the NHS though, I didn't think? The posters in the waiting room said something about £15.xx, £42.xx and £192.xx, and that the £192.xx included "difficult work such as root canals" or something like that?

No - The £189 price is for treatments that require a technician to make something. A root filling is Band 2 and earns the dentist 3 UDA (Funding points - NHS dentists get the same money whatever)

xadoc wrote:

If I understand you correctly are you saying that this flaring up again is quite likely, but it's impossible to know when? Could happen next week? Or this patch-up could last me 20 years? Could it last longer than that, but there's simply no way of knowing?

Exactly.

xadoc wrote:

One other question - my wisdoms (and the ones that come through later than the rest, but before the wisdoms) were really late. Some came through only a couple of years ago (and hurt like hell). But when he was counting out my teeth to the hygienist, he described the back teeth at the top (where the wisdoms should be?) as 'missing'... yet I've never had them removed? Where are they?

Maybe they're under the surface somewhere, maybe they didn't develop (That's not uncommon).

You could look for them with an x-ray, but an x-ray should only be taken if the result of it could change the treatment you'd planned.

If the teeth do exist, they're not causing trouble, and so should be left alone anyway (NICE Guidelines - one of their more sensible ones!) Therefore there is no real point in taking the x-ray.


EDIT There is a seperate thread about this, but there ia a PETITION on the No 10 Downing Street website to scrap the new NHS Dental Contract. The more signatures the better.

xadoc

Toothsmith wrote:

So long as nothing hurts, most people will think everything is fine.

Yup, that's pretty much the long and short of it.

Thanks so much. Have a lovely holiday! :beer:

EDIT: Petition signed. Thanks for drawing my attention to it.

ethansmum

I so wish I had read this post last week after I had my root canal.

Be gentle with me TOOTHSMITH, I have some questions for you, and I'm absolutely terrified of dentist, so I'm even scared of you!

Anyway, I have gone religously for checkups every 6 months. The last time I went was in end of August for a check up and then the follow up clean and a small filling at the end of September. Then in early October I got serious toothache while on holiday- that lasted for a while then went (then came and went every so often). Then a filling on the opposite side just fell out. I got an emergency appointment which diagnosed that I needed a root canal filling and I got that done last week.

Sorry for that long story, but here are my questions. Why wasn't that root canal problem picked up sooner? Like at my check up? The same goes for the filling falling out-3 weeks after a clean and polish. It seemed like too much of a coincidence. I do look after my teeth - can you explain how these root canal/infections occur? Is it just decay?

Thank you for your time.
Tracy

Teerah

Hi Tracy, toothsmith is on holiday so I will help to answer some of your questions.

Root canal treatment can be required if a tooth has decayed and this extends through to where the nerve is in the tooth. However, it is also required where a tooth nerve has died which can happen as a result of blunt trauma (including accidents and long-term tooth grinding) or if a tooth has had a deep filling in place for a while. In this situation, over time, the nerve can slowly die due to transmission of stress through to where the nerve is (eg heat will travel through a metal filling more than through sound tooth and this can kill the nerve over time)
Like everything to do with the body however, these things are unpredictable. The same sort of size and type of filling placed in one person's tooth may be fine whereas over time it may result in the death of a nerve in another persons tooth.

What I am trying to say in a rather waffly way is that unless there was decay or obvious signs/symptoms of infection at your checkup appt, then it could easily not be picked up.

As for the filling falling out, again this could have been coincidental if it cracked under stress since then and subsequently fell out or if part of the tooth cracked and led to the filling falling out.

I'm afraid it is rather impossible to say whether either treatment should have been picked up sooner rather than later or whether both were bad coincidences without having actually seen you but what I would say is that there could be a simple explanation for both too though it amounts to bad luck on your part.

Anyway, hth a little. Now you can see why I usually let toothsmith answer the questions, he is so much more eloquent than I!

ethansmum

Thank you so much for your explainations! I really appreciate you taking the time to reply to me.
That all makes sense now- I did have a metal filling in that tooth- that I've had for a very long time, so perhaps thats the cause. I must just be very unlucky then.

Thanks again
Tracy

desiman

Hi all,

After years of neglect, I had a trip to an NHS dentist who told me I need the following work done.

1 x Root canal treatment, based on 5 visits (£150)
1 x Gold/Silver crown for the above tooth (£189 or £400 for a porcelain)

2 x Filling PLUS 2 x Extracts (£42)

Now, the dentist advised me the root canal + crown will have to be done privately and there is no way to get this done on the NHS (although I can have it extracted).

I looked on the NHS website (http://www.nhs.uk/England/Dentists/DentalCharges.cmsx) and it says a charge of £189 can be made which should include root canal treatment and the crown.

I'm confused, if root canal + crown can be done on the NHS why do I have to get it done privately? And could someone please comment on whether the charges are fair if indeed I have to get it done privately.

Thanks

violetta

desiman - a read through of this thread might help elucidate things:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=207161

Toothsmith says that NHS dentists only get paid the same amount whether they extract the tooth (a quick job with few difficulties afterwards) or do a root canal (a one and a half to two hour job with a higher incidence of problems afterwards) so they are reluctant to do an NHS root canal and crown.

Katgoddess

My tooth broke a couple of days ago, on a tooth with a deep filling.

My NHS dentist said that I could either have it taken out on the NHS or be referred to a specialist for a root canal. An endodontist (?) in central London. My dentist said that it will probably cost £500 to save the tooth.

Does this sound right? Do you think I could get it cheaper elsewhere?