NHS Dental Charges (Scotland)

Enigmatic_Me

Can anyone please clarify what the charges should be for NHS treatment in Scotland.

I am with an NHS dentist and had a rather large filling come out. My dentist told me I could have a silver crown (on NHS) for around £95 or white crown (private) which would be hundreds of £s. Had to make 2 x 30 minute appointments. Decided for NHS as no way can afford hundreds of £s

Went for the first appt this week and he then started speaking about a double crown as there is a gap from an extraction next to the one where the filling came out. Vague about the costs when I asked him.

The tooth where the big filling came out is not causing me any pain whatsoever and personally it is at the back of my mouth so could live with it as it is.

He then told me I need root canal treatment which he did this week. Then told me I need to make 4 more appointments for more root canal treatment (to the same tooth) and for the one crown.

Had to pay for the root canal treatment yesterday and was charged £81 something. I was told the crown would be another £200. I have therefore told them to forget the crown and I will just have the root canal treatment.

Now root canal was not mentioned at my very first visit. Having looked at the NHS dental charges I see root canal should be band 2 which in England is £47. I have read that in Scotland you pay 80% of the NHS fee.

So, can anyone shed any light on why I have been charged just over £80? Also were they correct in carrying out root canal when I have no pain, infection etc?

Thanks

brook2jack

Scotland NHS charges are per item so bear no relation to English charges.
You will pay for the , xrays, root treatment, filling on top seperately .See for details http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Health/NHS-Scotland/dentistry/charges. What you've been charged sounds about right as a root filling on its own on a back tooth is £77.48.

Can't comment on root treatment as haven't seen you but large holes in teeth requiring crowns often will need root filling and often there is no immediate pain, you just see the infection on an xray.

Enigmatic_Me

Thanks for your reply.

He hasn't seen the root yet as only did the xray yesterday as part of the root treatment? Told me I needed root treatment more or less as soon as he started work on me yesterday. As I say, he never mentioned root treatment in my first visit last month when the big filling came out, he just spoke about a crown.

Also it wasn't going to be filled as it was supposed to be a crown.

brook2jack

Well you can't always tell how far decay has gone until you start to drill and as it was a big filling to start with and fillings normally only come out if there's decay underneath or tooth breaks off then it's not surprising it needs root treatment.
The money you have paid is for root treatment only, you will have to pay for a crown on top or a filling on top if you are not having the tooth crowned. However as root filled teeth are more brittle and likely to break you need to save up for a crown before that happens.

welshdent

I would get the crown after. Bit of a waste only having half the treatment done and then the tooth breaking after going through all the work

suki1964

definitely save for the crown for the root filled tooth else that will just crumble and you will have paid for nothing

If its in an area thats not seen go for the gold - very strong and actually pretty cheap

Torry_Quine

I had root canal and crown, total cost £179

igaveupnowimback

Hi, had root canal on back tooth today and was unprepared for cost, just over £100. Can see from NHS charges it looks like should be less than half that but guess irrelevant in Scotland? Had a look at Scottish govt link but difficult to determine from that. As previous poster said, RCT on a back molar is just under £80 so does it sound like my charge was right. Had the temp filling removed, canals done, filled and x rayed. Need to apply for assistance with this.

brook2jack

Charges in England and Wales are based on three bands. The charges vary in both. Scotland and NI pay per item. There are over 400 different items so it is difficult for anyone to predict final costs but the link to the 400 different charges is found in the statement of dental remuneration (sdr) found from page 15 onwards http://www.sehd.scot.nhs.uk/pca/PCA2009(D)06.pdf Your charge so far looks right.

If you are on a low income you can pick up a HC1 form from your dentist etc which may give you help with dental costs.

igaveupnowimback

Thanks for reply brook2jack, managed to get forms.