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

debidoodle

Just stumbled across this thread, went to my dentist 4 weeks ago with a toothache, given an xray and a script for anti-biotics. Went back last week and he advised me that I needed RCT on 2 teeth, I asked about extraction and he advised agaisn't it. My appt last week lasted 45 minutes and was a little painful when he removed the nerve, xrayed my teeth again and I left. I returned today and the dentist explained that he had not removed all of the nerve in one of my teeth and it would need some more work today, after about 30 minutes of trying to remove the rest of the nerve he advised me that the nerve was curved and he was going to go the extraction route. I have come home with anti-biotics and metronidazole and must admit I am feeling yucky, next week he will fit my new crown. For my treatment I have been charged £198.00. I also sweating buckets at the dentist as I have a real phobia but he was quite gentle.

Tabasco

debidoodle wrote: »

Just stumbled across this thread, went to my dentist 4 weeks ago with a toothache, given an xray and a script for anti-biotics. Went back last week and he advised me that I needed RCT on 2 teeth, I asked about extraction and he advised agaisn't it. My appt last week lasted 45 minutes and was a little painful when he removed the nerve, xrayed my teeth again and I left. I returned today and the dentist explained that he had not removed all of the nerve in one of my teeth and it would need some more work today, after about 30 minutes of trying to remove the rest of the nerve he advised me that the nerve was curved and he was going to go the extraction route. I have come home with anti-biotics and metronidazole and must admit I am feeling yucky, next week he will fit my new crown. For my treatment I have been charged £198.00. I also sweating buckets at the dentist as I have a real phobia but he was quite gentle.

THanks to Toothsmith for the quick reply and your post.

This is what confused me. You are saying that your treatments cost £198 whereas my OH's would cost so much more. I know it requires removal of two teeth and you can't compare the cost that way but still, such a difference!?

Toothsmith, I've read your posts and am convinced you are very knowledgeable. Do you think he should pay extra to have second opionion with another dentist or should he just go for the quote...

Really, we can't afford it but we know we can't just ignore it either so would rather get it sorted now....

What do you think?

Toothsmith

debidoodle has quoted an NHS charge. So I assume she's being seen on the NHS.

Initially, it sounded like the timings of it were pretty good, and I thought she had that elusive of beasts - a decent NHS dentist!

But then - it would seem that in one 45 minute appointment he has tried to root fill 2 teeth. and then needed and extra 30 mins on one, which then is going to end up being taken out.

In that time, she's also had one of the teeth prepared for a crown, which will be fitted at the next appointment.

I am guessing that no rubber dam was used? (A square sheet of latex with a little hole in it that's stretched over your tooth to stop the bugs from the saliva getting into the open nerve chamber).

I use 2x45 min appontments PER TOOTH for a root filling (with rubber dam), followed by (when I'm happy with the root filling) a further 45 min appointment to prepare the crown, and then a 30 minute appointment to fit it.

I would assume tabasco that your OH's dentist will have similar timings.

It's fairly obvious that the longer you can spend on a complicated job, the better result you will get, and the longer the result will last, and the less trouble you will have from it.

It sometimes frustrates me when people think you can get the 'same thing' on the NHS much cheaper. It's only the 'same thing' in name. Like a 1970s Allegro and a 2008 Mondeo are both family cars!

annie_d

I had 3 of my front teeth crowned 26 years ago and now they are a little dark around the top of each one. I visit the dentist every 6 months and she has mentioned that they could be replaced for cosmetic reasons. Would it be worth me joining the TESCO dental insurance scheme which covers remedial and restorative work do you think? Although i am PETRIFIED of the dentist and take diazepam before a check up my dentist is a wonderful person who wouldn't advise soemthing if she didn't think it worth it. However when i visit i "seize up" and can hardly speak for the fear.

hethmar

I dont think your Tesco insurance would cover "cosmetic" dentistry - check it out - also if the problem has already been diagnosed then I dont think that would be covered anyway.

If you are just having the crowns replaced there will be no pain as the nerve will already be dead. It will just be the crown levered off and an impression taken, temp refitted and then a further appointment for the new beautiful ones I had several crowns recently for cosmetic purposes, my goodness the beautiful porcelain ones now look so natural I wish Id had them done before.

hethmar

Olympika, glad to hear you feel better.

Oggy, well done - see not at all as bad as you imagined was it

Tabasco, that does seem expensive to me. I know toothsmith is the dentist round here but I think OH ought to go to another private practice just to get a second opinion. £120 for a consultation!! Mine was £20 I think.

Toothsmith

hethmar wrote: »

I dont think your Tesco insurance would cover "cosmetic" dentistry - check it out - also if the problem has already been diagnosed then I dont think that would be covered anyway.

If you are just having the crowns replaced there will be no pain as the nerve will already be dead. It will just be the crown levered off and an impression taken, temp refitted and then a further appointment for the new beautiful ones I had several crowns recently for cosmetic purposes, my goodness the beautiful porcelain ones now look so natural I wish Id had them done before.

It really depends how your dentist describes them.

True enough, for NHS purposes, so long as something isn't actively decaying, then it's considered 'not necessary', and so it must be 'cosmetic'.

But, if someone has had a set of crowns for 26 years, and they looked a bit dodgey round the edges, and the patient WANTED them changing, then I'd have no problem stating on an insurance form that it was 'necessary'.

Toothsmith

hethmar wrote: »

Tabasco, that does seem expensive to me. I know toothsmith is the dentist round here but I think OH ought to go to another private practice just to get a second opinion. £120 for a consultation!! Mine was £20 I think.

It probably is a bit 'top end', but we don't know where in the country this is:- city centre tends to be dearer than rural etc.

It's a little bit dearer than my prices.

Depends what you want from the dentist. If the OPs partner really wants to turn over a new leaf, has 'seen the light' and wants to look after his teeth and really have the best chance of keeping them all his life, then the better he gets them repaired, and then looked after on a regular basis in the future, then the more chance he has of achieving this.

If all he wants is the pain to go away, and things sorted out until the next time something falls off/breaks/hurts, then this place is probably a bit OTT for his needs.

~Chameleon~

Not sure whether or not I'm allowed to ask this as it's more of a medical question, but I wondered how safe it is to continue taking max doses of co-codamol and ibuprofen daily.

Olympika

Froglet wrote: »

And how are you now,Olympika,has it all healed up at last?

Hi Froglet and hethmar! we're definitely getting there :T the socket is definitely healing over now (though got a tic tac stuck in there yesterday which was interesting ) and on the whole it's pretty pain free now. The inner edge of the hole (palate side) is tender still but only problem I think there might be is that the tooth behind (my last molar) is painful to tapping and even just 'leccy toothbrush but am just keeping fingers crossed that it's just related pain / irritation and not something more sinister. Am back on 7th October for check-up so will find out then.