More tooth problems, how can dental bridges cost £650?

majorwally

Hi Guys,

I have a adhesive bridge on my upper canine (the pointy one)
As the wing of the bridge is only connected to one other tooth (initially it was both sides but turned smaller tooth grey so I had it reduced to one wing attached), it is always coming off.
I then have to take it to dentist to re-attach.

I asked today about a fixed bridge but I was told this does not come under NHS treatment and would cost £650.
How can this be the case, when it clearly states on the NHS dental website that bridges are included in the 3rd band of £222.

I have already paid this twice, once for this winged bridge and I gotta say, it's a complete rip off.
All that was done for the £222 was a mould taken, then tooth made up, then fitted using 2 metal wings to the teeth either side of the hole. Their wasn't even an extraction charge had I'd already paid that.

The dentist today also mentioned implants but at £1,500!
What is going on with dentistry these days?

Anyway, gonna phone round, maybe some dentists somehwere include fixed bridge in their prices. They should as it's not much extra work is it?

Toothsmith

The adhesive bridge needs very little tooth preparation - a conventional one will chop away an awful lot of (presumably) healthy tooth. So there is quite a lot of extra work. The lab fee the dentist has to pay to get it made is also quite a lot more than the adhesive one.

The fee for the implant is very good (I tell patients £2500 as a ball park figure) and as a private charge - the fee for the bridge isn't bad either.

I think there might be many issues for you having a conventional bridge. Not only the amount of tooth that is cut away - but also the look. If a slightly greyer tooth where the adhesive bridge was attached was a problem - then the aesthetics of a fixed bridge might be very difficult to get to your liking.

brook2jack

Cost of running a room in a dental surgery in a cheap area upwards of £140 an hour. Fixed, fixed bridge preparation will take at least an hour and often longer and fixing it at least half an hour.

Laboratory fees for bridge will depend on amount of precious metals used and what standard of porcelain work etc but will be anything from £150 to several hundred or a thousand or more. If lab is also used to make temporary bridge you can add in for that as well.

You also have to factor in a margin to allow for errors that need remakes etc. As TS said it can be very difficult to get the looks just right with a fixed bridge.

Implants require careful planning, require several stages of treatment normally over several months. The training , equipment , consumables are very expensive ( the chap I refer to reckoned about 7 years ago it cost him £250,000 to train and set up his existing dental practice to provide implants). Dentists who place implants also have to pay greatly increased dental indemnity (insurance) rates.

In our area implants normally come in around £2000 but we are a very cheap area.

A three unit bridge around £600.

If a tooth needs replacing and eg there are other gaps then the NHS solution will be a partial denture.

Adhesive bridges are a good way of replacing a tooth without damaging the teeth either side . However once they come off once they tend to make a habit of coming out. This is difficult as a fixed bridge requires a lot of drilling of the teeth that support it with around a 20% chance that the nerve will die off in the drilled tooth which means root canal treatment and a less strong tooth.

majorwally

Wow, dentists must be paupers.
Never realised they paid so much out. Must be a nightmare collecting all those £58 band 2 charges for one filling.
Bet your just above the breadline hey chaps.

But seriously though, I had a cap done. It took 3 mins to shape the tooth, 2 visits totaling 35 mins and I was done.
Tooth looks rubbish!
£222 Ta very much!

You can only go by your own personal experiences and nearly all of mine left me thinking
1. Why didn't i become a dentist?
2. What an absolute rip off

majorwally

Apologies for my sarcasm.
I just get frustrated with people always trying to rip me off!

majorwally

Getting back to my original argument, how do Dentists justify not charging the NHS band 3 for fixed bridges then?

It states on the NHS dental web site that bridges come under band 3, so how can they charge what they like.
I don't understand how they can go against what is laid down by the NHS?

brook2jack

Band two charge is check up , X Ray's, all fillings and root fillings and hygiene visits. Including government contribution will earn aprox £69 . After expenses but before tax dentist will take home roughly £23.

Average dental student will graduate with £80,000 debt .

They will pay circa £5000 a year in indemnity and registration fees.

So before they actually earn any money they will have to do approximately 1100 band one treatments to cover just those costs.

They will have got excellent A levels plus excellent scores in UKCAT tests and have completed five years of one of the most academically challenging degrees followed by one or two years post graduate training.

They will then have to pay for and complete lifelong learning to stay qualified.

They will then have a job ,that after air traffic controller , is widely acknowledged as the most stressful. They will practice in a country where they are more likely to be sued than anywhere else in the world and where they are more highly regulated than anywhere else in the world.

Oh and their earnings have fallen by 20% in the last few years.

Good luck in your career change.

greenbee

At 1500 I'd have gone for the implant. I've just paid nearly £3k for one and I'm VERY happy with it. I hope it will be a lot less hassle than the tooth it replaced (and which my dentist worked very hard to make sure I kept for as long as possible).

Teeth come in quite handy. If you don't want to be paying for more than a checkup then look after them properly.

justme111

Probably because you are not very good at math and other core subjects and did not go to study for 5 years paying £15000 a year (add lost earnings in those 5years , but little hope as you do not seem to do math well). If you did you would realise that those 35 minutes costed a dentist about £100 at least in surgery running (add time to get it ready for you and clean and reset after ) plus about £80 the cheapest laboratory work(hence it looks rubbish). Plus costs of materials. the dentist made a whooping £40 profit probably on it. If the dentist was more conscientious they would spend about an hour on those 2 appointments plus resetting surgery time plus better materials plus better laboratory. It would cost them about £400 to do your work earning nothing at all. If they wanted god forbid to be paid for it , may be even more than minimal wage that would be added on top.So with you paying £220 the dentist would have to work for free AND pay for you having that crown a couple of hundred. Indeed , why does not it happen ?

brook2jack

majorwally wrote: »

Getting back to my original argument, how do Dentists justify not charging the NHS band 3 for fixed bridges then?

It states on the NHS dental web site that bridges come under band 3, so how can they charge what they like.
I don't understand how they can go against what is laid down by the NHS?

Because the NHS is only there to provide what is clinically necessary. If you have gaps a denture will fill those up. You may prefer a bridge but unless it is clinically necessary you will be offered a denture.

There are lots of different treatments listed under the NHS treatment bands, some out of date and some which would never be carried out by a dentist (eg apicectomy and periodontal surgery are listed but would never be done in practice they would be referred on ). Just because they are listed does not mean you are entitled to them. It depends on clinical necessity.

ERICS_MUM

When you consider the importance of healthy teeth & mouth I think dentist fees are an investment in your own well-being into the future. The thought of having to wear dentures in my old age turns my stomach !!


I'm not a dentist but I have a very good dentist - some work I have done on the NHS but more 'cosmetic' such as crowns and veneers I have paid privately - I had one tooth done per year over a few years as the only way to afford it. During that time I cut back on holidays, clothes etc and sold stuff on EBay but it's worth it.

I neglected my gnashers for 30 years but 8 years ago I had my lightbulb moment and have never looked back.

OP perhaps you should find a different dentist - I'm sure there are average, good and great dentists out there just as in all walks of life.