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

alizee

I'm trying to say he did not explain anything a couple of days ago either (i have had that appointment for a long time) I have decided to go and get it extracted and finish my treatment here, or else im wasting money i have already paid, and then look into joining another dental surgery that has been recommended by friends and family ( i initially chose this one because it was so close to home) I might have to pay an initial fee for the first assessment but i was told i can use that towards my treatment. I cannot really wait for a long time with the tooth in this state, i just hope the swelling will go down this weekend.

brook2jack

Good idea to swap to a dentist recommended by others you know, it's the best way of choosing a dentist.

I understand that things were not explained a few days ago either. Unfortunately some dentists are better communicators than others and the rate at which you have to work on the nhs doesn't encourage time taken to talk things through. Hopefully your next dentist will be able to encourage you to be more confident and relaxed with treatment.

welshdent

You may have whats called a phoenix abscess. If the root filling was very recently done to manage a chronic infection then the treatment can stir things up.

skydog

I went to my dentist today for root canal treatment, but half way through he stopped and said it was too difficult. My options are to have the tooth removed or go private. I don't want to lose the tooth and equally I'm horrified I'll have to pay at least twice the price privately and then have to pay for a crown on top of that. This will end up costing 3-4 times the NHS price. There's a big hole in the treatment available for people on modest incomes. He could refer me to the local dental hospital, but that could take up to a year!

capomeister

skydog wrote: »

I went to my dentist today for root canal treatment, but half way through he stopped and said it was too difficult. My options are to have the tooth removed or go private. I don't want to lose the tooth and equally I'm horrified I'll have to pay at least twice the price privately and then have to pay for a crown on top of that. This will end up costing 3-4 times the NHS price. There's a big hole in the treatment available for people on modest incomes. He could refer me to the local dental hospital, but that could take up to a year!

Having just had a RCT I can confirm its a lengthy procedure and, alas, very expensive if you go private. On my molar the dentist took about 3 hours over 2 visits to carry out the treatment in full. Moreover there are equipment costs to consider. As others have pointed out, the microscope an endodontic specialist should be equipped with costs several thousand pounds, and is beyond the budgets of most NHS dentists. Nonetheless, my wallet is still feeling as sore as my tooth!

The private dentist explained that I was paying for his time. The NHS fee for a root filling is less than £50, which for a 3 hour treatment is obviously not very much, so I can understand why your dentist did not want to proceed with a lengthy and complicated procedure. I agree and sympathise that the jump in price from NHS to private treatment is far too steep (in my case over 12 times the cost of NHS) but the success rate for private treatment carried out by a specialist is far higher. Having the tooth crowned after the treatment greatly enhances the chances of the tooth lasting, so is another budgetary factor to consider.

So it depends how important the tooth is for you. Like you I wish there was a more modest "in-between" price between the NHS fee and the specialist fee. If it is complicated the NHS hospital would be a good option if you can live with any pain/discomfort for up to a year. It'd have the advantaged of being an entirely free treatment. I waited over a year before getting my RCT carried out, but mine was not complicated so the dental hospital option was not available to me. Good luck!

brook2jack

The problem here is that 15 years ago if you could not root fill a tooth in general practice you took the tooth out. There was no other option other than apicectomy where in a little op you cut the gum above the tooth and cleaned and filled the root.

The last 15 years has seen , in common with alot of medicine , an explosion in the technology involved in root treatment. Loupes ( £2000 ), microscopes (£15,000 upwards) rotary instruments (£35 per patient) mdta (£50 per patient) and many other instruments and materials have come on the scene. They are very very expensive and require a great amount of time to make them work properly.

Hence teeth that would have been taken out before can now be saved. However as a country we spend on average £28 per year per person on NHS dental treatment. With that level of investment the NHS cannot save every tooth for every person no matter what the cost.

As to a cheaper midway...... A cheap dental surgery costs £130 an hour to run.for the majority of dentists 64% of fees go in expenses. Unfortunately due to more government regulation practice expenses are likely to go up even more in the coming months to fulfil needless bureaucracy and so I can't see fees coming down any time soon.

welshdent

capomeister wrote: »

The private dentist explained that I was paying for his time. The NHS fee for a root filling is less than £50, which for a 3 hour treatment is obviously not very much, so I can understand why your dentist did not want to proceed with a lengthy and complicated procedure.

I actually get less than £30! Which includes any coronal sealing and additional treatment and the initial check up and x rays. Its disgusting how poorly funded endodontics is in the NHS.

Fergie89

Hi all, I'd really appreciate a little advice.

In late November I had a filling inserted in one of my molars. This was done on the NHS, and my dentist told me that the cavity was so deep that there was a chance I would need to return in order to have a root canal or an extraction done.

The tooth held up fine throughout December. However, in January it started giving me some pain, and I was taking a couple of Ibuprofen daily. But for the last month or so it has settled back down again and not given me any problems.

I am leaving the country for a week at the beginning of April, so I find myself at a bit of a crossroads...

I'm concerned that if I return to the dentist now and am told I need RCT, then it could take longer than a month to get it all done, which would leave me dangling for important treatment as I am scheduled to go on holiday.

There is also the issue of money. By mid-April I should have enough saved to be able to get any treatment needed by a private dentist. It might be worthwhile waiting if, as some say, private will provide me with a better RCT (should it be required).

I have to balance all of this against the possibility of having dental issues when I am on holiday.

Thoughts anybody? Much appreciated.

luxx

Hi, i was wondering if anyone could offer me any advice. I'm 21 and recently started having a throbbing pain on the right side of my mouth top and bottom. Last week I visited the dentist who told me to step up my dental hygiene routine and pop in a week later. Fine did as told and went back in today. Completely different dentist this time who checked all teeth to see for any visible signs for the cause of the pain. She couldn't none find none but did state my enamel wasn't in the best of conditions and took an x-ray. The results showed no infection and seemed to leave her and the nurse confused. They let me know that my current filling was sitting close to my nerves. She then tapped the left side of my upper teeth and then repeated on the right where I have a previous filling. She asked if I felt any difference and I said a slight, some what difference on the tooth with the previous filling. She said she felt that with that knowledge and the fact I've been having a throbbing pain for 2 weeks it was an infection. She prescribed me antibiotics and said I would need a root canal and a crown. She also gave me the option for extraction and stated how a root canal has the chance to be unsuccessful. I questioned the fact no infection visibly showed on the x-ray and she said it could be underlying issue and would show up at a later date but in a much worse condition. She was very frank in letting me know that she's not a fan of root canals and hasn't performed many but was happy to do it for me. (confidence boosting indeed)

My heads just spinning and confused not just at the total cost of everything but I'm slightly apprehensive because nothing showed. I was wondering if it could be a poorly fitted filling?? I also don't want to loose my tooth. Would secondary advice from the first dentist be the best bet or should I just accept the current prognosis. I'm also eager to whiten my teeth at some point and wondering if this will affect that in any way. Thanks in advance.

Toothsmith

It's impossible to tell you any different without actually being able to see and assess everything.

Infection does need to be present on a ttoth for a fair while before it's visible on an x-ray. So if it is early on in the process it might not show up yet.

If she feels she can do the root filling, then that's because she feels she can make a good job of it, and it's within her skill set. I can't argue with that because I don't know her, or how she's been trained - but she HAS qualified as a dentist, so I have to assume she has the ability to do these things.

If you're 21 and in need of root fillings already though, I would look to find out what's been going wrong with your mouth, and find out what habits you can change to make things more stable before spending money on whitening.