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

Toothsmith

This isn't really to do with the system you were seen under. It's to do with the dentists involved - and the teeth.

Some teeth are painful to do - generally the ones with vestiges of life still within them, and yet are infected and blocking the anaesthetic. There are ways of dealing with that though, and even just giving up for the day and bringing the patient back when a course of antibiotics have settled down the tooth would have been better in your case.

As for showing you the lengths of the root canals - there are some patients who insist on knowing every little detail of what's going on. It's hard to know in the first few appointments exactly which sort of patient you have in the chair, which is why sticking with a dentist will ultimately produce the best relationship.

True to say though, that a bad experience can really put you off, and I don't blame you for changing. You seem to have found someone who suits you now.

I wouldn't bank on your new dentist staying NHS for very long though. Nowadays a root filling has just the same 'points value' as an extraction.

It cannot be economically viable to spend 6 times the time saving a tooth as removing it for the same amount of points towards your funding target.

P.S. 4 root canal treatments is a lot to have in a short period. I think you need to find a different answer to your problems!:D Try Beer !:beer:

Rachel71

Hello
Just adding my tuppence worth. I had a root canal done last year with an NHS dentist. I then had it redone a couple of months ago with an specialist root canal dentist (in France - I live in France for part of the year and part of the year in the UK) because the dentist I saw in France said that the initial root canal hadn't been very well done and the xray showed a shadow around one of the roots, and therefore recommended that I have it redone with the specialist. The main difference between the treatments (initial NHS one and retreatment) was the length of time - first one probably only about half an hour, second one about 2 hours - obviously not fun to be there for ages but I think an indication of how well it would have been done - plus 15 mins at the end to explain to me that the tooth might be painful for a while, could treat using ibuprofen or if in loads of pain I could phone him for something stronger, what to do with tooth afterwards, show me xrays etc. I don't really know what instruments he was using as I had my eyes shut most of the time but he had something that went beep at one point.

So...from the two options, I would think that it would be better to go for the private one, to increase the chances of it being done properly first time round, rather than having it done the first time with a higher risk of it not being done properly (and having to have it redone at greater expense).

The retreatment also includes a follow up/xray three months after the treatment whereas there was no follow up on the NHS treatment.

Hope this is useful
Rachel

Savvy_Sue

Toothsmith wrote:

Yes! You wouldn't ignore a weeping purrulent sore on the end of your nose would you!

Probably not. But a spot which kept erupting and then dying down again might be a different matter. And I probably have a higher tolerance of ghastly looking skin because of DH's eczema. Mind you I nag him to get up to the GP if I think his eczema herpeticum is erupting! :rotfl:

Toothsmith wrote:

That's right too. A decent bridge on sound teeth should last a long time though, and with regular checking, any signs of failure can be acted on, and the bridge simply replaced.

I guess that's the $64,000 question - are the teeth either side 'sound'? One of them is definitely a funny colour ... but I think it has been for a long time!

Toothsmith wrote:

None at all really. There's nothing wrong with the odd gap.
Plus, if you come into a fortune, it's ready for an implant straight away!

Now there's a thought! Also very reassuring to hear that a gap wouldn't have a knock-on effect on all the others!

Toothsmith wrote:

It puts great pressure on me, and it tends to turn into a royal pain in the butt for the patients if they go through a 'bad spell'.

Yup, I had worked out that it could become entertaining - even counter-productive - if there were ongoing problems.

Toothsmith wrote:

I'm sure you have a local Toothsmith. I am not unique at all! I thought you had found one a few weeks ago?

I managed a little more research, and found a mixed NHS / private practice where they offered to let me talk to the dentist if I could hang around for half an hour, but I was a bit past it and badly needed to get home for a cup of tea. I have noted the 'script' I need to use and keep trying to earmark an hour when I can just phone dentists and work my way through it! But work is manic, so hard to find time there, and by the time I finish work and get home I'm either completely wiped out myself, or it's so late that no dentist with a life outside work is going to want to talk to me.

And when this 'failed' tooth has been going on in about the same way for a couple of years, never getting a lot worse, and my dentist has seen it every six months and been completely non-committal about whether there's a problem or not - well, what's a girl to think?

Ho hum.

moneytroll

A few months ago, i had a root canal done on my tooth (privately I think). The cost was £360. Then a few weeks later the tooth became infected and i went to another dentist (because the other one was closed and i was in terrible pains). He x-rayed and told me that the root canal wasn't done properly (not deep enough) and that's why it got infected (after which he charged me £100 for taking out the filling and putting in a temporary one and prescribing antibiotics).

My question is, should I expect the dentist who did the original root canal treatment to finish the job properly without charging me or should I expect to pay another £360?

any comments greatly appreciated

Teerah

Hi Moneytroll, yes the root canal you had done was private. I would go back and discuss the treatment with the dentist who originally carried out the treatment. I would be extremely suprised if he/she would not be happy to redo the root filling at no extra cost. However given that it was not a sucess first time, you may want to consider going elsewhere anyway. Which tooth was it?

moneytroll

Many thanks for your reply. It was one of the lower/back teeth. I did it privately bacause I wanted a white filling. the dentist was a combination of NHS and private at the time. But after April this year, he is now only doing private work (as most dentists around my area as I found out).

I will discuss it with the dentist. Is this a fairly normal complication after such treatment? Also i heard that there are specialist dentists (specializing in root canal treatments). Would it be advisable to see one of those instead?

The thing is, he also did a root canal on the other tooth as well at that time. A part of that tooth came off the other day (but he warned me that it might do that i think). So i suppose now i need to get a crown too (what is the usual charge for this?) Either i was unlucky or it's a really crappy dentist...(though i was quite surprised that the actual procedure was completely painfree and smooth..).

Teerah

Its true that NHS dentists were not allowed to mix NHS and private treatments on the same tooth.

Good decision to discuss it with your dentist, he may advise a specialist referral anyway although you would have to pay for that again. You would probably have a higher chance of a good longterm prognosis if you go down this route though.

Some teeth will flare up after a root canal where they were previously asymptomatic due to everything being disturbed. This is more usual after the initial stage though. Your flare up would suggest that there were some bugs left behind after the treatment, perhaps they were a bit more resistant to treatment than others. Although the short root filling may have been a contributer to its failure, even a really pretty looking rootfilling (sad) does not guarantee that you will not have any problems. Root fillings will not always work for everyone, the problem is that although the major root canal system can be cleaned and filled, there are many smaller (microscopic) canals called accessory canals which cannot be either cleaned or filled. In the majority of cases they do not pose a problem but not everyone will be lucky, hence why I say that sometimes it is irrelevant how close to the tip the root canal is filled.

It is not uncommon for teeth to require crowns after root canal treatment, the reason being that they were probably either heavily filled or had a really large cavity to begin with and then getting access to the root canal system requres even further tooth substance removal. The remaining structure is usually greatly weakened. That is not to say however that all rootfilled teeth should be crowned as this requires further removal of tissue and may leave very little to actually support the crown in function. As far as the cost of this, I'm afraid I cant help you there. Your dentist will likely have his own list of fees so you would be better discussing this with him also.

As far as being unlucky I cant tell. How long have you been with your dentist, have you had any previous problems? If not then it is probably better to continue the relationship but that is up to you. Hope you get everything sorted.

lisadupreez

100 thank yous :beer: to Toothkind :kisses:who explained what the difference was between NHS cost and private cost.

I booked in for the private treatment (£240) and had my root canal on Thursday night. :eek:

My dentist is an angel :A The only pain (if I can call it that!) was the injection going in.

She explained everything as she was doing it. The was no big grindy drill used (that is the thing I hate the most).

And on the next day, Friday when I went for another filling I surprised myself by telling a colleague I was looking forward to going to the dentist - hello was that me talking?:think:

Root canals - a piece of cake! Dentists (so long as she's my one) fantastic.

I didn't mind forking over the huge expense as it didn't hurt and it won't trouble me for a long time...

Anna-Marie_4

I have had a root canal done, it was really painful, i developed an infection and had to have the tooth out!!!

Toothsmith

They don't always work! Was it private or NHS?

Did the dentist offer a specialist referal?