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    UK patients unable to get dental care after ‘eye-watering’ rise in private fees
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    UK patients unable to get dental care after ‘eye-watering’ rise in private fees

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    27 Comments

    1. Kenny608uk on

      Average cost of a root canal around me was £750-£800.
      After paying £70 in appointment/consultation fees. It’s insane

    2. br-rand on

      It’s shocking how there’s no mention of private equity taking over large number of dental clinics.

      The exact same thing that happened to funeral homes 10-15 years ago is now happening to dental clinics. They are about to become cash cows for PE funds. It’s an open secret in the industry but I guess that blaming NHS for everything is just easier.

    3. Valuable-Disaster567 on

      Still can’t find a dentist, the cheapest private dentist is £230 for a new patient check. Following that it’s £170 for standard check up. Who can afford that.

      Sorry, it’s not the cheapest, there are cheaper ones but they are not taking in any more patients. Only ones left with the capacity are extremely expensive.

    4. Ramiren on

      There really ought to be protests over this. We all pay into the NHS for healthcare which includes dental care, and we aren’t receiving it.

      If this had been a private company selling dental care then not providing it, there’d be hell to pay.

    5. Impossible-Fold-2154 on

      Well now bit controversial. Being Eastern European migrant on low budget (well now better off) – have always used private. Just accustomed from what was in Poland. You want your teeth to be done properly you pay private. In here it is actually easier – you pay a dental plan which is insurance and regular check ups. So for £23 a month i have 2 dentists check ups and 4x hygienists a year – effectively 6 x a year someone looks into my teeth. Plus 10% discount on dental work, plus FREE emergency jobs which i have used few times as my teeth are very weak. And if you do it regularly you only spend money every few years to change used fillings. – Last year I paid £190 for one.

      If I wanted to go on NHS – in place where I live there are not any available – the remaining ones are always full – I’m not going to risk my health waiting ages.

      And unfortunately yes you have to have saved bit money for other emergencies – so for me it was not going out for 2 years 15 years ago. So I have few grand saved just for it, nothing else.

    6. Nice_Z_173 on

      I was quoted £3000-5000 to replace a single tooth on the NHS.

      I could fly to Turkey and get my entire mouth done for £6000 including air fees and hotel stay.

      We’re turning into the USA.

    7. Herradores on

      I now have a dentist in Spain. Last month I paid 65 euros (£55) for a check up, x-ray and 30 minutes with the hygienist. In a small town of 40,000 people there must be at least a dozen independent dentists. Different level.

    8. Duanedoberman on

      This is the result of he previous government’s contempt for health services in the UK.

    9. midori87 on

      This is why people go abroad for dental work, so the question is why does the media demonise them for doing so when it’s impossible and or unaffordable to get treatment at home?

    11. NaniFarRoad on

      Needed a filling redone last year, our NHS dentist gave me the choice of (a) amalgam for NHS prices, or (b) ceramic for £320. I chose ceramic as I’ve never had one of those before.

      It is the worst filling I’ve ever had – there is a gap around it and it snags food on every meal. I’ve had to use more dental tape in the past 10 months than in the past 10 years combined. For £320 I was expecting same or better, not worse!

    12. yohsamaa on

      Found out I needed two root canals, and it would’ve probably cost me more than £3K. So I booked a round trip to Egypt for £500, spent two weeks with my family, and did both root canals for £120 with a consultant there

    13. jamsamcam on

      My crown fell out whilst in U.K.

      Since it was urgent I had to pay £205 for something that would be £80
      In Europe

    14. NGeoTeacher on

      I went to Turkey. I needed a complex root canal and reconstruction, and was quoted £2500 to go private after my NHS dentist wouldn’t do it. I was referred to the hospital and they refused to see me. I couldn’t afford to go private, but I was in extreme pain. I was forced to take a substantial amount of time off my job as a teacher because of it. After months of having no idea what to do, I started researching options abroad. I found a clinic in Istanbul that quoted me £300 for the surgery. My flights cost about £300 (in the summer holidays – would be cheaper at other times of year), and I spent 10 days in Istanbul and had a holiday as well. I ended up paying about £350 for the treatment because I opted to have a cap fitted to my tooth to fill in the gap. They took a 3D scan of my mouth then 3D printed the cap within 5 days for fitting.

      The treatment I got out there was outstanding – very easy to book over WhatsApp with a helpful, English-speaking agent, the clinic was modern, extremely clean and professionally run. The dentist was fantastic. I have no idea what they gave me for an anaesthetic, but I barely felt a thing (massive contrast to the anaesthetic I got on the NHS – still painful).

      All in all, the whole thing cost me less than £1000, but that was including all my accommodation, sightseeing, etc. I met people on the flight going there/back also going for various treatments, including cancer treatment they couldn’t get on the NHS. Ridiculous really. In my case, my tooth got infected after the temporary filling put in by my NHS dentist deteriorated (rapidly). It hurt like hell and I got very sick, and went on a course of antibiotics (these were difficult to get because my GP initially refused to see me, saying it was a dental issue and not in their purvue). Had I left it much longer, I’d have been hospitalised.

      I read all the horror stories about medical tourism in Turkey and nearly talked myself out of it. Glad I didn’t. I hope I won’t ever have to do it again, but should I need to, I won’t even bother looking at the UK – I’ll just go back to Istanbul.

      What is so infuriating about this is my whole dental saga ended up costing the taxpayer far more than had I just had the treatment I needed in the first place. I had to take a term (about 3 months) off work due to how sick I was, so that meant getting replacement teachers in for me (way more expensive than a root canal, plus a negative impact on my students) and I had two GP appointments that I should never have needed. I’d never have needed the antibiotics or painkillers had I just had the surgery straight away. Had I not gone to Turkey and been hospitalised, that would have ended up costing an extortionate amount. The system is broken.

      Part of the problem, according to a dentist friend of mine, is that the NHS dentists won’t touch surgeries like root canals if they can get away with it – they’ll just extract the tooth. Dental practices are private, and the way the funding model works is they get the same amount of money from the NHS whatever the treatment is. They’ll get the same payment whether it’s a simple filling or a complex root canal, so obviously they don’t want to do the complicated stuff as it represents a poor use of their time.

    15. LifeChanger16 on

      I need a filling, I’ve avoided it for a year because of the cost.

      Still can’t afford it. Going to have to ask my parents if they can help

    16. cape210 on

      It might be time to bring dentists and GPs fully under the NHS with a huge increase in funding

    17. Qyro on

      I haven’t been to the dentist in years. Simply can’t afford it. The nearest NHS ones are 45 minute drives away…oh and they’re full.

    18. Neds_Necrotic_Head on

      My NHS dentist just went private. My appt for Jan got moved back to March because he now only does 2 days a week with NHS patients.

    19. Any_Hyena_5257 on

      Britons are stupid and will keep paying money hand over fist to keep a small group of people rich. These stories are pointless, just a load of people yapping but nothing will ever change.

    20. jumpair on

      Anyone feeling brave, research dental tourism, plenty of countries with very good private dental services, plus you get to do sightseeing and still have lots of money left, compared to the daylight robbery in the UK.

    24. CMDR_Crook on

      Fuck private dentists. It’s a monumental rip off, and they are all money grabbing bastards. NHS dentists are utter gold, and should be treated as such.

    25. MandelbrotFace on

      Well folks… They finally did it. The NHS and dentistry falling into private hands, where profits and shareholders are the priority, not patients, who must be maximally exploited for the bottom line. We are well on the road to the American-style healthcare model.

    26. Sorry_Term3414 on

      Government basically hacked off dentistry from the NHS. I remember during covid I was told by my dentists of 30 years to go find someone else for care.😒 Now its pricey private clinics or nothing. Feck the government, this is disgraceful

    27. 999hologram on

      I moved recently and contacted the nearest 5 NHS dentists, none were accepting…

      So I just went private with the closest one