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

tlb2408

Hi,

I visited my dentist on Friday to be told I would need a root canal as I had an infection under a filling. I was told to come back in one weeks time.

My dentist is NHS and told me it would cost me £400 for the root canal and then I would need to pay £196ish for a crown... So nearly £600 in total.

I've look at the leaflet given out by my dentist and it has a root canal treatment on the leaflet for £42.40. So I am now left confused. Everytime me and my partner go to the dentist he says we need treatment last time my partner went he said it would be £2500 for a bridge!! Which I also notice is on the leaflet.

Can anyone advise please. As I don't have £400 for the treatment and could have the tooth took out but it is my last back tooth so would prefer not to.

I am thinking of going for a second opinion (private) as we wondered if it would be any cheaper having a root canal done private. But can I do this??? And still stay on the NHS dentist books?

Thanks for any advise.
Tara

ampersand

Surely you have pointed out the leaflet price to the Dentist?
What answer was given?

LondonDiva

Root Canals come under Band 2 treatment - £42.60.

If your dentist has an NHS contract, then s/he should be offering the treatment under both options.

Before treatment, have you signed the NHS form thing? If not ask for a treatment plan this you spell out what you are having & the cost.

If the dentist ums and ahs, then I'd take the long term view of either reporting him to the PCT (PALS / dental advisor) for breach of contract and ask for help finding another dentist or having the treatment and paying the NHS cost at the end of it. If the dentist then asks to you pay private ask for the signed treatment plan and report them to the PCT.

Badger_Lady

I'm by no means an expert, but have a similar experience:

I needed a root canal filling... my Dentist was NHS but, because she only gets refunded a certain amount for the job, it's not worth her while doing complicated procedures. Once she opened my tooth and saw it was infected, she refused to do it under the NHS.

I spoke to NHS Direct and they advised that, if your Dentist refuses to do the treatment under NHS, they have to refer you to someone who will (in my case a dental hospital). However, it can be a very long wait to be referred and something that's infected will only get worse and present a danger to your health. In my case, my GP prescribed me several courses of antibiotics to keep it at bay (which obviously isn't good!).

Toothsmith will have some proper advice (rather than just my ramblings), but it sounds to me like you're best off questioning your Dentist about whether they will in fact do it under the NHS (or whether a referral is possible), and if you are forced to wait consider getting a couple of quotes for private treatment instead. The cheap and easy route is to get it pulled, but I totally agree with you - I'd do anything to keep my own teeth!

davsidipp

my daughter needed root canal and was offered it for 250 quid private there and then or 3 weeks later for 42 quid on national health by the time of her appointment her nerves were so badly damaged that the tooth had to be removed .

LondonDiva

Badger_Lady wrote: »

Once she opened my tooth and saw it was infected, she refused to do it under the NHS.

Your dentist cannot refuse to carry out a neccessary clinical treatment if they have an NHS contract. They can refuse if they don't have the clinical competence to do it (but if carrying it out provately, they can't get away with that one).

if the dentist refused to carry out this treatment, please do consider letting your PCT know via PALS even if you do not make a complaint as this is part of the contract they signed. Dentists cannot pick and choose which treatments they will do.

It's either all or nothing, which is why most honest dentists refused to sign the new contract and a lot of the rest try to fudge the issue. If you need it, you should get it full stop.

Toothsmith

Root treatment is under band 2, but if he then goes on and crowns it, everything should be covered by the band 3 charge of £192 ish.

If he decides to crown it later (And that is perfectly justifiable clinically) say after 6 months or a year, then it should be the £42ish Band 2 fee for the root canal, and then an extra £192 when the time comes to crown it, as that will count as a seperate treatment.

System

my hubby got his done free because he had a heart attack 4 yrs ago and the dentist chose to refer him to the dental hosp rather than doing it himself.

Toothsmith

There is no reason why someone with that medical history needs specialist care for a root filling.

Yes you're pleased as it didn't cost you anything, but the fact is there is a dentist here trying anything he can to worm out of his NHS contractual obligations.

adwozere

I had to go to the dentist the other day to have a root canal re done, as the old one wasn't sealed,
but as he was cleaning out the old root canal filling, he snapped off the end of his file in one of the canals and he couldn't get it out!!
He said it was a piece of metal about 1.5 to 2.0 mm long, and it was lodged in the canal, but he said it would be OK if he left in there and refilled it, but to me that just doesn't seem right.
Are there any Dentists out there, if what do you think.:D