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

BigMan

I must have been very lucky.

Had 2 sessions (1hour) a time, and i can honestly say i did not feel a thing or have any pain afterwards.

And i used to hate going to the dentist!

Cost - it was about £60 i think?

laurajayne

Sorry guys...should have made mine clear in my first post lol.

I went to a private dentist - who spent about 2 hours doing my RCT (I am phobic). A crown was needed as it was a molar (upper right 6) and because of the length of time taken before actually recieving the treatment (NHS dentist seriously messed me about) I had broken the tooth too.

I would be the first to say that the crown was the most expensive option on the list - as I will be having all my smile teeth crowned in the next two years for cosmetic reasons (yup, petrified, but I so want this done) and wanted it to 'blend' in.

Good Luck xxx

Scottish-Diva

Thank you all for the replies!
Im more comfortable this morning than last night:beer:
Still have discomfort eating, but hope this will ease as the day goes on....
Im going to call about the costs, it was a big back tooth, but hope the practice will allow me to pay it up....it is an nhs dentist I attend
Thanx again!

Scottish-Diva

Toothsmith wrote:

It can be sore for a day or two.

All the things you mention are variables in every case - state of the tooth at the start, patients pain threshold (And some people with high PTs in some areas can have low PTs in others eg, a bloke taking blood from me once said that the biggest number of faintings he'd ever had was when he had to do blood tests whilst in the Navy on a squadron of SBS members!!)

Also if you'd been in pain beforehand with it, that can lower your tolerances too.

Whatever you do DON'T be tempted to hold anything warm against it. This will seriously INCREASE the pain you will get.

Use ibuprofen if you can take it OK, and it's also OK to mix it with paracetamol. They have diferent ways of being removed from the body, and so you can take both up to the maximum. Go and see your dentist again if you have any doubts though.


As for cost, you really should have known this before you started. It is the duty of the dentist to make sure you are aware of all charges.

Is it NHS or private?

I am not sure of scottish NHS charges anymore, but would guess it wuld be around £80 if it's a back tooth, bit cheaper if it's a single rooted front tooth.

If it's private, could well be around what Laurajayne quoted.

^^^
Thanq you, I did take ibuprofen, as much as I could yesterday and today it feels much more comfortable, although eating is a bit of a no no...Im going to call the dentist to see what the cost is now:eek:

angeldeelite

it was nowhere near as painful as the abcess which caused the work in the first place. i am terrified of the dentist and she offered me a sedative to get he work done but would have to take a full day out doing it. decided to bear it. it was pretty traumatic but i got through it.

i'm now deciding to get braces which could involve extractions - is this worse than root canal? i'm dreading it more but not sure if it would be worse

Biddyrolo

Extractions are usually pretty quick, if I remember right you have to be careful with hot drinks for a few hours in case they start it bleeding.

tanith

I know that dentist like to keep teeth in your head as long as possible but I'd take an extraction any day over a root canal..... Or maybe the young chinese lady dentist who did my extractions was particularly adept at it , I felt 2 nudges as she loosened the tooth then it was out before I knew it... :T

getcarter

I had a root canal a couple of months ago, no pain, a bit of jaw ache from holding it open for ages. Crown cost £175 (gold NHS)

Toothsmith

getcarter wrote:

I had a root canal a couple of months ago, no pain, a bit of jaw ache from holding it open for ages. Crown cost £175 (gold NHS)

Was this in Scotland?

If it was in England or Wales, the charge for the complete course of treatment including one or more crowns should have been £189.

If it was just a course with the root filling, it would only have been £42.40

If you were charged one price for the root filling, and a seperate price for the crown, in England or Wales then it wasn't NHS.

Assuming 'a couple of months ago' was after April 1st.

mr_rush

I need a root canal. My upper left molar after my wisdom tooth has been hurting for the past 10 days. Self medicating with amoxicillin didn't help the pain. I had a filling in that tooth approximately 18-24months ago when my (old) dentist said 'we've avoided a root canal for now'. I went to see my new dentist under the NHS today - although the tooth looked ok superficially when he examined it, the x-ray of the tooth shows that the filling is pretty deep and bordering on the pulp.

Now, I'm on holiday for 2 weeks from next week. I've booked an appointment in the surgery for the first part of the root canal under the NHS, I think there is a second part approx. 1 week later. The dentist who will do the root canal is a general dentist to my knowledge - not an Endodontist.

Is it worth getting the treatment done privately rather then on the NHS. What are the pro's and con's. I think on the NHS it will cost £180 (as per the new contract) and privately - who knows? The cost is not the main issue really... will a dentist spend more time/effort on the treatment if I saw them privately.

And if I do get it done privately, then should I see an endodontist for the treatment or just a regular dentist?

Thanks

PS: I don't think a crown is needed, just extraction of pulp and roots + filling of the cavity.