Royally Rogered by my Dentist

If you’re in the UK, what are you currently paying in terms of dentist fees (NHS or private)?

I get a tenner brutally stolen from my bank account each month for some stupid payment plan thing that is supposed to give me dental insurance — great for travelling, but I don’t travel — and reduced costs for things like fillings, root canal work etc.

One of my fillings fell out last week so I went to the dentist and the f*ckers whacked me with a massive £45 bill just to replace the bloody thing. It’s not even as if it was one of those posh white ones; it’s a manky grey thing (not that I give two shits about that). If that’s discounted though… well, I feel sorry for the poor buggers who’re ass-raped backwards with the full fee! (Pardon my less than, uh… eloquent(!) wording.)

I want to get myself a decent dentist who doesn’t burn the shit out of my face with the numbing injection crap (she got a bit trigger happy, me thinks) and who doesn’t raid my bank account for the privilege… but first I need to know if this is standard charging for private dentistry these days?

26 Comments

  1. I HATE novocain. I tell my dentist (who is a family friend) that if I don’t need it, don’t give it to me. I think he charges quite a bit, but I don’t know seeing as how I’m not paying.

  2. I go private and was charged roughly the same price. My poor money. :(

  3. I pay about £23 per month for my dental treatment but that does mean that any treatment I need is free. When I was paying it would cost me about £48 for a clean and polish but that was years ago when I last spoke to my dental practice about canceling my insurance plan I was told that to see the dentist for a check up (with a clean and polish) would be about £78 plus any additional things that the dentist needed to do, so £10 a month is a bargain price as long as you don’t need any work done. Are you with Denplan?

  4. Jem

    24 Nov at 8:55 pm

    Thanks Lee :)

    I would consider £10 p/month in addition to the £45 a bargain, if I didn’t know that prior to me starting the plan I was paying less than £30 for a filling! I wasn’t sure if I was being mugged or if that was just the way things were these days.

    I’m with these people: http://www.practiceplan.co.uk/

  5. My mother recently had to get a filling and she paid $200NZD for it, which according to Google at the moment I’m posting this is £71.68.

    I so think you’ve definitely had a discount… or maybe my mother uses a brutally expensive dentist?

  6. It’s no secret, with or without dental insurance, regardless of where you live, it can prove to be expensive. Even with insurance that paid almost half of what the final cost, in the U.S., I had to pay $60 (£39.5) for a tooth extraction, and that was years ago. I am sure that things have gone up since then. It’s sad that things that are actually necessary (and yes, having your teeth taken care of is a necessity, not taking care of them can cause all kinds of pain and diseases) are so expensive. What about those who can’t afford even a discounted rate?

  7. I can’t really help you out officially or anything, seeing as though I have no insurance period and I live in the United States, but I wanted to comment uselessly to be in shock of how much that cost you for your filling. What the crap?? I know in USD, it’s about twice the number just about so I would probably just tell them to eff themselves and stick some tissue paper in the hole. Of course, my shiny purrty teeth have never had a cavity… so I dunno what it feels like.

  8. Dentists are definitely earning well these days. I took out my wisdom tooth and the bill totaled up to around 500 bucks.

  9. Eep. I’m just glad I’m still under my parents’ insurance. The last dental work I had done (apart from my braces) were to get my four wisdom teeth extracted, and that came to roughly around 600GBP. With the insurance, I only had to pay 50GBP, so thank fuck for that.

    Buh. Forget being a lawyer – I should just become a dentist. :/

  10. I’m with the NHS but after the age of 19 you have to pay anyway. I got all my teeth fixed for free before I turned 19. If you’re on job seekers or any kind of benefit you can get it for free or at a discounted rate.

    The same for glasses really, I used up all my coupons though so I have to pay £200 a pair now whether I’m on the NHS or not.

  11. https://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/Enquiry/Enquiry.aspx
    ask and ye shall get an answer as to whether or not you really have been ‘Royally F****d” or if that is the standard fee. Either way, at least you won’t be in pain now, sorry it’s so costly Jem.

  12. I pay £27 a month, and that’s with category A – I have perfectly white teeth (quirk – no idea why) and no fillings. But that’s no additional charges at all for anything else.

    V xx

  13. It sounds like you were charged about the NHS standard fee to me. I haven’t seen a dentist in over five years because there are no NHS practices taking new patients in my area (although I do a check once a month just incase), and I can’t afford to go private.

  14. Get an NHS dentist?

    £15ish for a checkup + xray if necessary
    Then a maximum of £200 if you need a lot of work done. No monthly fees or any such rubbish, just pay for what you require??

    http://www.whatprice.co.uk/dentist/nhs-prices.html

  15. I wasn’t going to comment initially, seeing as how prices here tend to be lower than in the UK… but that price for a filling it really a bargain.

    I’m going to a private practitioner, cause she’s a family friend, not as expensive as most, and I can afford to scream :P
    A regular filling is around 50 – 60 RON, which would amount to £223 – 267. So erm… £45 is definitely cheap.

  16. No… wait… I’m an idiot. Never mind. I multiplied it, instead of diving it X( (kills self).
    So erm…. £11 – 13. But yeah, prices are cheaper here *slinks away shamefully* I never liked Math.

  17. I don’t go to the dentist. =^.^= Always the best option. Then, when you get toothache or some crap, get insurance and go to the dentist like a month later and then cancel it. JK JK. But yeah, I don’t go to the dentist.

  18. When I was 15 I got a crown for free. But I think that the prices for cool ones ranged from 50 pounds (darned American keyboard with no pound sign) to 250 for some porcelein thing. O.o I have the gold coloured one that is nickel and rubbish. But it’s okay because I tell people that it’s actually made of gold and then people think that I’m a gangster like those people in the rap videos on the TV and on YouTube.

    P.S. Sorry for commenting twice, I forgot about my crown.

  19. I rarely go to the dentist (I know I should, but no one touches my mouth but me), I’m usually fully covered I have a dental plan with my health care

  20. That’s NOTHING compared to what you’d pay as an American; you should be counting your lucky stars.

  21. I hate the dentist so much….and Novocain, I don’t even want to talk about that!

  22. I went private to get my only filling done, but it was at my mum’s surgery (she’s a dental nurse) so I don’t know how much it cost. One thing I can say – I refused the injections, and the filling didn’t hardly hurt anyway. I recommend anyone that thinks they can handle slight pain (maybe as much pain as a tattoo?) to avoid the injections and just go for the filling – they don’t drill into the nerve or anything, it’s literally just the freezing cold water that makes it very sensitive (imagine biting into an ice lolly with sensitive teeth). The irritation of the injections doesn’t over-ride the irritation during the filling, IMHO. :P

  23. Sounds like you got charged the standard NHS amount, but I can sympathise – I grind my teeth constantly through the night and periodically through the day as a result of my CP (so I can’t help it as it’s part of my condition and there’s nothing I can do to stop it) and I’m being charged £200 by an NHS dentist for a Night Guard. Bastards!

  24. Ouch. I hate the dentist anyway, having to pay out the wazoo for it would only make me that much more angry!

  25. I just paid 200 USD for a filling and that’s AFTER my insurance covered their portion. Your 45 quid sounds awesome to me. :D

  26. Jack martin

    15 Mar at 8:01 pm

    In the U.S. this is what I have been billed for recent procedures: cleaning ( regular checkup) $198, extraction $161, crown $359, pulpotomy $200, 1 surface filling $140, 2 surface filling $160, plus $25 each visit for nitrous ( never covered by insurance). If you dont have insurance you pay the billed rate. If you have insurance you pay the contracted rate and then the insurance covers their portion. I have 100% insurance with a $50 a year deductible. Cleanings are free- insurance pays $170 and I pay nothing. There are waiting periods though- so I’ve been stuck paying for the crown ( though since the insurance has a contracted rate I pay $200 instead of $400 or whatever). The insurance itself is only $16 a month, but its in addition to health insurance as an add-on. I pay for my own insurance ( dont have a job and never had one that had benefits).