Dentistry question - Crown NHS or Private

theradfords

Hi

I hope someone can explain the difference to me please.

I need to have a crown on a back molar, the NHS cost is £198 and the private is up to £500.

Can anyone tell me the difference and if it worth the extra cost?

thanks

welshdent

The difference is the material normally. The NHS standard issue is a metal alloy and privately you get from a better metal alloy to different types of tooth coloured crowns.

theradfords

welshdent wrote: »

The difference is the material normally. The NHS standard issue is a metal alloy and privately you get from a better metal alloy to different types of tooth coloured crowns.

Thanks So are the NHS ones silver in colour? and are they the same quality?

welshdent

theradfords wrote: »

Thanks So are the NHS ones silver in colour? and are they the same quality?

Depends on the lab used and what the dentist asks for to be honest. There is no particular stipulated NHS crown per se although there are some guidelines out there regarding the minimum compositions of the alloy. The NHS crown will be the cheapest available to be made. Read in to that what you will I guess. IMO no the quality will not be as good.

Bronnie

I have an NHS metal crown on an upper wisdom tooth, out of sight obviously. It is only a couple of years old atm however.

I also had an NHS white crown put on a front molar, entitled to a white one because of the tooth position, but paid privately to have a white crown on another molar, because it was further back but still quite visible.


I'm in my early fifties, my teeth are ok and regularly maintained and all the work done by my trusted dentist, but like a lot of my generation, had a lot of drilling and filling as a youngster in my back teeth and do have a quite a few large metal fillings. The mix of NHS and private crowns seems a reasonable compromise for me, based on my age, condition of teeth, certain amount of vanity and budget.

Time will tell if I'm doing the right thing I suppose!

moneysaving_convert

The NHS one is silver coloured. I paid extra to get the enamel tooth coloured one.

Vikki_74

I had an NHS crown a couple of years ago after having a root canal and it's gold - luckily it's one of my very back teeth so you can't see it as it is a bit pirate-like!

I was offered a private crown option, to be done by the same dentist, the only difference being that it would have been enamel rather than metal. Considering he would presumably have earned a lot more if I'd gone private, my dentist didn't try and push me down that route at all, and even suggested that the metal NHS version would probably be better for a back tooth as it would last longer than a tooth coloured enamel version.

It's my first experience of this type of thing, and like I say it's only been a couple of years, but I haven't had any problems so far.