Private Dental Charges - What Is Fair?

littlescarlet

Can anyone tell me what is a fair charge for private dental treatments?

I have pretty rubbish teeth but have been using the same dental practice all my life, and paying by Denplan since they went private.

Recently I have had to change my dentist as we moved home and the new (private) dentist says I need a minimum of £1500 worth of work just to get me started and probably similar amounts each year for years!!! He refuses to take me as a Denplan patient and implied that my previous dentist was being slack and avoiding doing necessary treatment because Denplan only covers exams and hygiene work. Now I don't know what to do because maybe he is right about the essential flaw in the Denplan method (my teeth do need work I can feel that), but I don't know what is a fair scale of charges for a decent quality dentist. I have tried searching the net but got nowhere. I am faced with going elsewhere and paying again for a second opinion, which I may not be able to trust either, or resorting to dental tourism!!!! There don't seem to be NHS dentists taking patients in my area of Derbyshire.

kippers

I pay by Denplan and i'm sure it covers polishes,white fillings, root fillings, xrays etc i've not paid any extra since joining Denplan years ago.

Rikki

I pay by Practicplan apart from the check ups clean, x-rays and white fillings everything else has to be paid for, but being on the plan means your entitled to a discount on the price.
The cost of private treatment is expensive anyway.
I am in the process of having a bridge replaced and the total cost with discount is £900+.

...........and it hurt

oldandhappy

Rikki wrote:

I pay by Practicplan apart from the check ups clean, x-rays and white fillings everything else has to be paid for, but being on the plan means your entitled to a discount on the price.
The cost of private treatment is expensive anyway.
I am in the process of having a bridge replaced and the total cost with discount is £900+.

...........and it hurt

wow....that hurt me as well as just a couple of weeks ago at my last check up my dentist said that one of my bridges is getting past it best, initially it was a NHS jobbie....doubt it will be 2nd time around:eek:

On the OP subject though I think you need to find another recommended dentist because to say you will need contant 1000's seems very excessive. Surely you mainly either need the work done now or not at all.Mrs Happy

littlescarlet

kippers wrote:

I pay by Denplan and i'm sure it covers polishes,white fillings, root fillings, xrays etc i've not paid any extra since joining Denplan years ago.

Thanks Kippers. I know it's supposed to cover everything - and for me it did at first. But I get the impression that my dentist thought he was not getting enough back and started to slack off. How long have you been paying this way? I had quite a lot of treatment in the second year, about £500 quids worth, and at £18 a month that takes a lot of getting back....

dounome

Im on denplan and have been for years, i get all treatment including crowns and dont have to pay any extra, what i do pay for is lab fees though when ever i need a crown. Ive also had very expensive gum treatment which i required quite a lot for a while, at no extra cost.

Toothsmith

Get in touch with Denplan via their customer helpline.

They are usually very good.

In a similar way to fee-per-item dentists overtreating, Denplan dentists, with a fixed monthly income whatever the patient needs can be guilty of undertreating.

This is not common, but a risk always worth bearing in mind. Denplan are acutely aware of this and try to be on the lookout for it as best as they can.

I'm sure if you give them full details, they will try and assist you.

The first thing you need to do is to verify that you do in fact need the work dentist 2 has suggested.

Denplan might be able to help with a second opinion.

It is possible that it is just a difference of clinical approach, but £1500 just to get started does sound like quite a lot of clinical difference.

The guy that runs Denplan's complaint handling department is a chap called Henry Clover. I have always found him very nice and helpful, from my side of the fence.

The dentist doesn't have any excuse if he doesn't think the fees are high enough - it is the DENTIST that sets their own fees, not Denplan. If he didn't put the time in to work out what money his practice needed, then it was his own silly fault!

littlescarlet

Thanks Toothsmith. I'll try Denplan - I just couldn't face going back to my previous dentist, now 50 miles away, and saying that they had to do all the work to bring me up to 'scratch', and then having them say it didn't need doing etc etc.