Tooth Nerve - Root Canal Question, £700 cost? Help Please?

luvchocolate

I am in exactly the same position, my N.H.S dentist also tried to do the root canal but could not complete so he referred me to a private dentist who quoted £550.
I am 66 years old and consider it money well spent to keep the tooth.
Younger friends think I am mad to spend so much and would have it pulled.
May I thank the dentists on this site for their advice.

brook2jack

I , like toothsmith, have been in practice for a few decades.

Do I still practice as I used to in the 80s, absolutely not. I cannot remember the last time I took out 18 teeth at once and fitted full dentures.

Am I happy if I look at teeth I root filled decades ago , quite often not, but these teeth have lasted decades and the technology has come on immensely since then.

Do I use the same fillings and techniques as I did then ? No . EG I was taught to take all decay out no matter how close to the nerve it went. These days soft dentine is left over the nerve to give it a chance to live. I no longer drill some teeth that I would have before because techniques , science and patient diet change may mean the decay will reverse or stay static , something that we did not know before.

In other words what I do now is vastly different because the science,art and technology is very different and because over time my patients have listened and acted on what I have been saying about diet and cleaning.

Dentists have to complete many hours of continuing professional education each year so they stay up to date and change their clinical practice. Good practice can and does change over the years.

Saffythecat

steve007 wrote: »

Saffy, thank you for those posts, they help a lot!

Glad they helped. I was thinking about your situation earlier - I was actually getting the crown prep done this afternoon - and remembered something else whuch might be useful. The reason my dentist thought I would possibly need referral was because the tooth had long, twisted roots and was close to my sinus (upper molar). When I had the consultation with the endodontist and asked if he was concerned about this, he was like “pfft”. These guys are experts, and have super fancy equipment. On the flip side, I thought I might need a root canal in a front tooth and asked him if he should do that or my own dentist, and he told me to save my money, that she could do an excellent job. It actually turned out to be a blip on the x-ray, something they called an artefact, but I was really reassured that it wasn’t about the money.

My situation sounds similar in that I am an NHS patient in a mainly private surgery, but I am in Scotland where I know things work a bit differently. I have had a bad year teeth-wise, caused by bruxism, after years of just checkups and no treatment, and I can’t praise my dentist highly enough.

Rita2456

can you not ask for a nhs referral in hospital?

brook2jack

You cannot refer someone for routine crown and bridge work. Hospital restorative budgets are for those with complex problems eg after trauma, mouth cancer etc and Dental hospitals specifically say they will not take referrals for bridges. Eg http://www.cmft.nhs.uk/media/1181636/restorative%20service%20referral.pdf

Mrs_Optimist

Thank goodness I found this post in fact I could have written the op myself.

Currently have a temp filling in bottom molar. Not in any pain and waiting to see specialist at the end of July. My NHS dentist did gave a go at doing the root canal but one of the canals is calcified. My concern is it is £100 for consultation, £750 for treatment and a further £1000 for a crown. Like other posters I cannot presently justify that sort of money for a tooth that is causing no pain and can't be seen.

Is there a reason why I can't just have a filling put in and take my chances ? Or shall I spend the money to get the tooth repaired, ? lots of arguments for both and I'm confused. Was initially annoyed with my dentistfor not giving me the choice of a filling, and suspected the surgery were getting a kick back for the referral. Now reading the posts from the dentists on the thread I'm not so sure.!

Money_maker

I'm also in a similar situation. My regular dentist did what she could and put a temp filling over the top earlier this year. Have looked up the practice she has referred me to and now understand why I have been referred. Consultation will be around £100-£150 with the total hopefully being around £600. Just plucking up courage now. Have another tooth, lost crown, bridge would possibly damage teeth each side. Options are transplant (2Kish) or plate (yuk). Will leave for the moment and see what happens.


My dentist in the 70's was horrible. The smell, the sign that said 'open thy mouth and I shall fill it' and he was really creepy too. Talk about a mouth full of metal from him.


Big thanks to the dentist regular posters on here, whilst some may moan, they need to realise that you don't have to spend your free time helping folks on here and we do appreciate it.

bovver

My experience puts me in the unlucky 30% twice. So everybody else will have better odds.


12 years ago I had need of a root canal treatment on a 30 year old filling, bodged later by one of "as I have control of your mouth, I might as well drill 3 of your teeth, including your new wisdom tooth and when you come back I will drill the other 3, because I can". This guy was taken to task and before the local NHS committee (after 3 years of them dithering), who fined him, but no recompense for me.


Moving on to a person trying to save teeth, my later dentist had 10 years previously become totally private because of the level of charges not supporting the treatment, I was referred to Wimpole Street for specialist root canal treatment. After spending three years holiday money on the treatment and a crown, it was fine for 10 months.


Then the pain started, the pain continued, and my dentist saw infection that needed to be released, and provided a temporary filling and antibiotics. The crown was drilled, a course of antibiotics given, plus a referral back to Wimpole Street. After 2 days I was dying with the pain, and went back, but could not be prescribed anything stronger than paracetamol, so referred to the GP who gave me a morphine-based pain killer.


As treatment cannot be given until the abscess is cured, a month later I saw the Wimpole St guy. Bone had been lost according to x-rays. He drilled out and cleaned the roots again, and peered in saying he thought there was a crack in one of the roots. So he referred me back to the dentist saying that he may operate and remove the affected root (apiectomy) if it were cracked.


Went back to the dentist, who looked in the roots with his high-spec tools and said the root was cracked and he should remove the tooth completely. He then asked me if he should remove it, when I queried about just removing the root, he said it would not be able to save the tooth, and did I want the tooth removed. So trustingly, wishing never to be in that excruciating pain again, I agreed. He took out the tooth, and examined it. He then declared there was no crack, sorry. So £2000 crown and filling plus weeks of excruciating pain and no tooth or compensation. I even had to pay for the extraction.


Moving on. I did not visit a dentist for over 12 years after the experience. Then another filled tooth decided to break in half. I left it for 6 months not wishing to visit a dentist. In the end I did, when another part of the tooth came away. I visited the previous dentist who drilled then said I would need a crown, as there was little tooth left. He said it could also require a canal treatment in the future. I left with the £1200 crown. No other work necessary, not even a scale.


After a week it was banging with pain. I went back and was told it might settle down and no antibiotics would be needed, as "we are trying to avoid over-prescription". It was banging for a week and I went back, when he decided to drill through the crown and let some pus out. Still no antibiotics. After a day it was banging again, and I crawled back. He decided that I should perhaps have been on antibiotics after doing an in-house test on the pus. He also said the root had been destroyed by the infection and had to be removed. He drilled out the previous packing and started on the root canal, then referred me to a specialist to finish off the drilling and filling a month later when the abscess had drained.


So more bone lost. A severe infection. Excruciating pain over a month. A further £1600 for the root canal. A hole in the crown. A continuing niggle in one side of the crown, which hopefully is just an unsympathetic nerve. Fingers crossed because, as a pensioner, I have no more money.

jessl

I think if there's a chance to save your teeth, do it. Even if it is dead, it is still yours. And also it's cheaper to fix it than to implant artificial one

Toothsmith

jessl wrote: »

I think if there's a chance to save your teeth, do it. Even if it is dead, it is still yours. And also it's cheaper to fix it than to implant artificial one

True to a point.

If the tooth, when saved, isn't going to have a good life span, it would be better putting the money you would have spent on saving it towards an implant.

The dentist or specialist should be able to give you a reasonable idea of how long a tooth should last after treatment - but as we saw a couple of posts ago, there are no absolutes, and you can be unlucky.