Dental crown on NHS?

ripplyuk

My dentist has told me that it may be a good idea to crown a tooth that I've just had a repeat root canal treatment done on. I assumed this would be on the NHS but he said getting it on the NHS is unrealistic as they have to send my details off to 'the board' and wait for their permission which involves endless paperwork and a very long wait. Apparently, one patient has been waiting for 15 months.

Problem is, I'm already struggling to pay off the cost of the root canal, which also wasn't covered on the NHS and I had to go private. I thought it was worth paying for it, to save my tooth but didn't think I'd have to pay for the crown as well! I've read they cost around £600 for a gold crown which I've been told is a good choice for a back molar.

My dentist says that I have the option of not doing anything, paying for the crown privately or waiting and hoping the NHS will agree to let him do it. He explained that root canal teeth are more brittle and a crown will protect it. But this tooth has had a root canal for over 20 years without a crown. This latest treatment was a repeat root canal and it seems to have worked well. The endodontist removed a lot of the amalgam filling to do the treatment and replaced this with a white filling so now the tooth is a mix of both. I'm unsure if this is an extra reason to crown it or not.

So I'm thinking it might not be worth getting into any more debt over it and either wait on the NHS or do nothing. Has anyone been able to get an NHS crown in a reasonable timeframe? And are they the same quality as private ones?

InsideInsurance

ripplyuk wrote: »

My dentist has told me that it may be a good idea to crown a tooth that I've just had a repeat root canal treatment done on. I assumed this would be on the NHS but he said getting it on the NHS is unrealistic as they have to send my details off to 'the board' and wait for their permission which involves endless paperwork and a very long wait. Apparently, one patient has been waiting for 15 months.

Problem is, I'm already struggling to pay off the cost of the root canal, which also wasn't covered on the NHS and I had to go private. I thought it was worth paying for it, to save my tooth but didn't think I'd have to pay for the crown as well! I've read they cost around £600 for a gold crown which I've been told is a good choice for a back molar.

Speak to your local PALS service about what is and isnt available on the NHS.

Wife a few years ago need a root canal and the place said they only offered them privately and not on the NHS. Spoke to PALS who advised that this was "illegal" and they cannot pick and choose which of the NHS offered treatments they offered. They managed to first of all get another dentist sorted out and secondly the dentist (who had done the same to others) was subsequently fined for their breach of contract.

As per http://www.nhs.uk/NHSEngland/AboutNHSservices/dentists/Pages/common-nhs-dental-treatments.aspx a crown falls into Band 3 of charges

I am not an expert but it sounds like the whole lot should have been done on the NHS for a grand total of £214 for root canal and crown. The wife didnt require crowns for her root canal and there was a bit of a wait but measured in a couple of months not years

[Deleted User]

I've just had an NHS crown, and there was no wait at all. Is the issue here that your dentist thinks that the crown is unnecessary? If he told you that the root canal wasn't available on the NHS either it sounds more like you're being taken for a ride.

My crown was £200 with large filling to another tooth included. It's dark grey because the NHS won't pay for a cosmetic one on a back tooth. The cosmetic one would have been £400.

welshdent

Are you in Scotland?? It is fee per item there and MAY involve gaining prior approval .... however for a single crown that is unusual I would think as the fee would be below the cut off. Otherwise every single crown would have needed approval.

FWIW I would absolutely recommend all my molar root filled teeth, partuclarly those already weakened by decay in the past and root canal treatment, have some form of crown or onlay.

ripplyuk

jack_pott wrote: »

I've just had an NHS crown, and there was no wait at all. Is the issue here that your dentist thinks that the crown is unnecessary?.

He made it clear that a crown would definitely be the best thing but I told him I doubt I could ever find the money for it. He then said I can just leave it if I want but the tooth will not be as strong.

I'm in Northern Ireland. I've just checked the rules and it says I pay 80% of the cost of treatment up to a maximum of £384. But because I'm getting benefits at the minute, I wouldn't get charged anything.

My dentist is very nice and he seemed frustrated at the NHS as he said the fee they pay wouldn't even cover the cost of doing it. I feel like I'd be asking him to do it out of charity but I'm going to end up in a lot of debt if I have to go private. Should I ring a different dental practice and ask what they can do on the NHS?

InsideInsurance

NI may be totally different. I wouldnt necessarily go to another dentist but there probably is an equiv of PALS which handles complaints or advice for near complaint things who could advise what should and shouldnt be available on the NHS

brook2jack

NI has a completely different system and prior approval for many treatments including root treatment and crowns was introduced over a year ago and terrific waiting lists have built up waiting for prior approval. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/poor-could-face-a-threemonth-wait-before-receiving-dental-treatment-28703344.html

All you can do is ask for the dentist to apply for prior approval but the system is back logged and there have been many complaints. The bda led a campaign against the change to no avail http://www.bda.org/news-centre/press-releases/41824-dental-cuts-proposals-deeply-flawed-bda-argues.aspx

ripplyuk

brook2jack wrote: »

NI has a completely different system and prior approval for many treatments including root treatment and crowns was introduced over a year ago and terrific waiting lists have built up waiting for prior approval. http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/health/poor-could-face-a-threemonth-wait-before-receiving-dental-treatment-28703344.html

All you can do is ask for the dentist to apply for prior approval but the system is back logged and there have been many complaints. The bda led a campaign against the change to no avail http://www.bda.org/news-centre/press-releases/41824-dental-cuts-proposals-deeply-flawed-bda-argues.aspx

Thanks for the links, I had no idea! It sounds like a nightmare to get anything. Just done a lot of reading and it does say that they eventually agreed that first molar root canals could be done without prior approval. Not sure why my dentist told me to go private but maybe because it was a repeat root canal and there is different rules?

Wish I'd known all this before going ahead with the cost of private treatment. I would have asked my dentist to extract the tooth if I'd known I wouldn't be able to get a crown on the NHS. Now I feel like I've wasted all that money on the root canal and I'll probably lose the tooth anyway due to not being able to afford a crown for it.

brook2jack

Redoing a molar root filling is normally specialist work and the nhs in NI is the same as the rest of the UK where there is virtually no nhs specialist endodontists available generally.
As to the crown the best bet is to ask for prior approval and see how that goes.

[Deleted User]

I had no idea how confusing and complicated dental charges are, or that they varied across the country! My dentist just said £200 for NHS, or £400 for a cosmetic, so I went for the cheapie! It's only guaranteed for a year, which doesn't sound a lot.

I've found I'm not getting used to it like with a filling. Anything new in the mouth seems a bit alien at first, but even after a few weeks the crown still feels like there's something in my mouth that doesn't belong. The surface of it feels a bit like a dry wine, and it feels a bit too high sometimes but not others.

twixeey

jack_pott wrote: »

I had no idea how confusing and complicated dental charges are, or that they varied across the country! My dentist just said £200 for NHS, or £400 for a cosmetic, so I went for the cheapie! It's only guaranteed for a year, which doesn't sound a lot.

I've found I'm not getting used to it like with a filling. Anything new in the mouth seems a bit alien at first, but even after a few weeks the crown still feels like there's something in my mouth that doesn't belong. The surface of it feels a bit like a dry wine, and it feels a bit too high sometimes but not others.

Please can I ask is your crown Silver or gold?