Root canal treatment cost on NHS etc

mingualez

Hi there.

I am a paying NHS patient.

I recently had an inlay fall out of my 2nd top left tooth (molar) from back. I went to my usual dentist who humed and ahhed about wether it could be put back. He did xray and showed me a shadowy area where there is as he put it "inflammation" There is no nerve in the tooth where it has had previous root treatment. To cut a long story short, he said I needed further canal treatment and a crown. It couldn't be done on NHS and it would cost in region of £600 for canal work and £300 for crown. I appreciate crowns are not usually paid for on NHS but assume canal work is?? Anyway I explained I was not in current financial position to have the work done. Was I likely to suffer from not having it done now and could he put inlay back for the short term. He did not commit himself to saying I was desperate to get it done, and replaced the inlay.
Re- canal work, I am sure I can have this done on paid NHS??

Thanks in advance!!

brook2jack

If the tooth has been root filled once and still has a problem then it probably needs a specialist endodontist to re root fill with with any chance of success.

Unfortunately I know of no areas that employ nhs endodontists who will treat general nhs patients. That means for the majority of people they will have to pay privately for a specialist endodontist.

If a tooth is difficult to root fill a general dentist puts themselves in a difficult position legally if they have a go. So have to refer on.

mingualez

So, should I confirm this is the case. What if not?? Just as precaution??

mingualez

brook2jack wrote: »

If the tooth has been root filled once and still has a problem then it probably needs a specialist endodontist to re root fill with with any chance of success.

Unfortunately I know of no areas that employ nhs endodontists who will treat general nhs patients. That means for the majority of people they will have to pay privately for a specialist endodontist.

If a tooth is difficult to root fill a general dentist puts themselves in a difficult position legally if they have a go. So have to refer on.

Just occurred to me that my own dentist will be carrying out the work, he was not referring me!

brook2jack

What a dentist cannot do is take you on as a nhs patient but only offer to do the root treatment themselves privately. They can refer you to someone else privately , it may even be a colleague in the same practice , but they cannot say they will not do it on the nhs themselves, only privately themselves.

If you are a nhs patient you should get a fp17dc form detailing what is nhs treatment and what private. If you haven't got one you should ring up to ask for a written estimate and to clarify who would be carrying out the root treatment if it were done privately.

mingualez

brook2jack wrote: »

What a dentist cannot do is take you on as a nhs patient but only offer to do the root treatment themselves privately. .

That is exactly what he has done. The same dentist that treats me on NHS Said " The root work is not civered by NHS and he would have to do it privately. He went on to say how good he was and that many in the area (dentists) refer to him for treatment! Naughty aye?? I will have a look at the form you mentioned (Y)

welshdent

If he referred you OUT to someone it is fine but he can not say he is capable of treating that condition privately but not the NHS. IF I am able to do them on the NSH then so can they!!

justme111

Redoing root canal specially in a back tooth is generally accepted to be special area of competence , as you dentist does not have specialist contract with NHS I don't see why he would be obliged to do it for you. For the record - just the cost of materials and instruments to do it would be more than the surgery would be paid , and that's without surgery time and other overheads taken into account and god forbid to think that dentist would hope to earn a living.

welshdent

I agree entirely with the principle however we live in an age of litigation so I think it would be far easier to actually refer out rather than charge privately and do it yourself. No question of conflicts then.

Toothsmith

Agreed. A particular dentist can either do the root filling, or he can't. It's either within his capabilities, or it isn't.

It is completely wrong for him to say that it 'needs' a root filling and a new crown, but he's not prepared to do it on the NHS contract he signed that stated that all 'necessary' work will be provided on the NHS

If he didn't like those terms, he shouldn't have signed the contract, and shouldn't be collecting tax payers money whilst only providing the cheap stuff.

If the root filling is beyond his capabilities, then he is correct to refer it on to someone who can, and if they are not funded to provide this on the NHS, then that is a matter for NHS contracting. If you can't afford the private referral fee, then he is obliged to offer the next NHS treatment of choice, and take it out.

What is ethically and contractually very wrong, is to tell you that for a few quid more, he suddenly becomes quite able to do it.

Toothsmith

justme111 wrote: »

Redoing root canal specially in a back tooth is generally accepted to be special area of competence , as you dentist does not have specialist contract with NHS I don't see why he would be obliged to do it for you. For the record - just the cost of materials and instruments to do it would be more than the surgery would be paid , and that's without surgery time and other overheads taken into account and god forbid to think that dentist would hope to earn a living.

Then he should refer it if he doesn't have the skill.

He could do the sums before he signed up in 2006