Is your dentist ripping you off?

I just had an appointment with a private dentist , wasnt any treatment but a 1st consultation.

did a few x rays and spoke for about 40 mins.

my bill ? -- £213 , plus i was referred to specialist to have my broken tooth extracted, this will no doubt cost me in region of 1k

and cheekiest thing was --the dentist wondered why i havent been on any check ups for a year , why the hell do you think?

im fed up of this nonsense

I have had implants done in Budapest & the initial consultation was in London (where I still go for annual check-ups). Using the Hungarian dentists saved me hundreds of pounds, even after other costs (hotels/flights etc). Whilst not appropriate perhaps for lower cost treatments, it is certainly worth exploring for more expensive work.

I have been to 4 dentists now and between all 4 they have ruined my teeth, I used to have perfect teeth and now have a mouth full of fillings !! Half my teeth are broken through them inserting and taking out fillings. I have never been so depressed because of this !!! I thought you had a filling and that was it !! I have had the same filling removed now 3 times and I've joined yet another dentist to say most of them need to replaced again!! I've reached then end of my tether !!! Some thing needs to be done !!!!

I had some minor problems and wen to my local NHS dentist in Liverpool who also has 2 private practices in quite affluent areas. He owns about 20 properties, lives in a 1 million pound house, drives a 911 and a range rover. All he could say was " I think you need to go private and quoted 10K, as a matter of fact. He said he could not do it on NHS - rubbish. This man has certificates all over the wall in reception, masters this, masters that, fellow of this etc. He is rubbish with a capital R. He gave me fillings on my 2 front teeth, very noticeable, that went bad and really affected my confidence. He wanted to charge me to fix them!! I was so disillusioned with the system that I ended up in a clinic in Budapest (after due dillegence) to combine a holiday with treatment. It was AMAZING!! I was actually embarrased by our Dentists here. I got the best treatment for 20 percent of the cost and now people always comment on my teeth. I have just been fro my free yearly check up and they pick you up from the airport and take you to your Hotel!! They took a free full xray and showed me how bad the work was that he had done. Root canals only half full etc. They actually asked me if he was a Dentist! This Country sucks. Wake up UK, we are getting ripped off big time

The bigger a hole is the more likely the tooth is to die and while a filling repairs the hole it cant bestow everlasting life on the nerve. Johanna had left it too late going to the dentist. Dead teeth become infected and painful so then its either extraction or root filling. If Johanna's tooth was not quite dead when it was filled then her dentist would not have root filled it as a percentage survive against the odds. Those teeth that die do need root filling and yes that does need to be paid for, the root filling is not instead of a filling it is as well as a root filling, roof and foundations rather than roof only.

Dental practices overheads vary but easily top £100 an hour so charges will vary too, you can not expect treatment for the price of a packet of fags, Some people prefer disease in their mouth and money in their pocket to a healthy mouth and a little less pocket money.

I took a complaint about a private dentist to the dental complaints service .They are worse than useless,it became very obvious very quickly that they only exist to protect the dentist,not the patient.If you do have a complaint about a private dentist,let me save you some time,dont bother going to the dental complaints service.

Dental treatments are expensive in the UK due to the very high regulations imposed on uk dentists. The amount of regulations on UK dentists is the highest in the world and drives up the cost of dental treatments. If you wish to have cheap dental treatments, you need to go to eastern europe or India where there is very light regulation on dentists. But you get what you pay for.

As a dentist, I have a few points to make.

1. Regardless of what people say here, KEEP YOUR CHECK-UPS. They are not a waste of time. It is very distressing to tell the people who don't they are losing teeth to gum-disease or tooth decay. Most do not floss every day nor control diet properly.

2. The price you pay reflects many things, including factors you may not be aware about, such as lab fees or expensive material costs. I work on the NHS in northern Ireland, and an extraction is ~£6.00. 2 cartridges of local anaesthetic cost ~£2. And it takes up to 30minutes sometimes. I give 60% of that to my principle.
Dentists make money by turning their job into a business. Some dentists do not make much money.

3. White crowns, white fillings are expensive. They are harder to do, materials are expensive and they fail more. These are factored into the price. If cost is an issue, silver fillings and metal crowns are cheap and cheerful and last longer than cosmetic options. They are also more forgiving to those who don't look after their teeth!

4. Dentists get paid for work they do, not for their time. I often see 40 patients in a day, about 3-4 emergencies. We don't have the time to explain in detail how we treat teeth or the NHS system. The information is freely available to all those who the internet. I give all options, basic to high end and allow people to make their own choices.

Please do not make assumptions about dentists or their motives. The new NHS system in England is a disaster. The government cannot afford to pay for NHS dentistry but did not want to admit it and implemented a system which forces the dentists to cut corners just to keep their businesses alive.

I went to the Dentist last year,waited 10 mins in the waiting room, then up to his chair, sat down said arrr and 10 mins later was on way out and £16 to pay
Last week went again and needed a checkup but didnt get it and he found a chip on rear of front tooth, filled that and no cleaning or even looked at other teeth and that was £43
Any person leaving school needs to look at becoming a dentist, 5 day week 9-30 to 5-30 and the wage must be around£35.000 a year min

I am having a lot of trouble receiving a refund from my dentist. They say they will refund but I have been waiting for months. I keep phoning them and have spoken to their practice manager and their head office, but still no luck.

I paid up front £29.10 in March to have a large back upper molar extracted on the NHS. I then asked them if they could refer me to hospital instead to have it extracted. They said yes they could and I have an appointment in 2 weeks for extraction by my local hospital.

I and my husband and family feel we would rather not stay with this practice. They are not a decent practice. We will find another dentist. They are a very large practice and have surgeries all over England. We are warning all our friends and groups/neighbours etc about them.

Sounds to me like many of the contributors here have the job done and then grumble about the cost afterwards. Many people also go into a pub, ask for a pint (or whatever) pay and then grumble later at the cost. The motto? ask first - then decide.

After years of being treated half-heartedly by NHS dentists and consequently, all too often by half-baked trainees, for most of my life, I opted to spend some of my hard-won pension on some private dental treatment. Over a period of several months, my highly professional dentist made good all of the botched and missed NHS work and I am no longer ashamed to smile at people. The work was charged at a fair professional rate and I was told the costs in detail well in advance of treatment at every stage. I received excellent value for money from the private professionals, as opposed to the NHS treatment, which I felt had been limited to fit the NHS budget restrictions rather than my need for certain treatments. The only time I received satisfactory treatment via the NHS was forty-odd years ago. That dentist was Canadian. The only time I complained, I was "advised" to find another dentist. At that time I had no money to pay for private treatment, so was trapped in a second-rate service. On the other hand, the NHS medical services generally have for me and my family been excellent value for money in many ways and I cannot praise their services, other than dentistry, highly enough, from GPs to heart specialists. It is unlikely that all NHS dentists are bad, but the way their system seems to be funded and administered is terminal; probably deliberately so - privatisation by attrition.

I had a friend who needed the top set of teeth replace with inplants, he went to altimkum Turkey, where the ist visit the teeth were remove & a temporary denture installed, 5 months later he return to have it finished off. total price £3900.00, price quoted in u.k £7960.00
He is happy with the result & had two holidays as well.

My wife and I have only recently started to use the NHS after our private dentist (a friend) retired.

The overwhelming impression is that dentists have now become salesmen, and seek to flog treatment that is outside the NHS available treatment by a combination of subtle pressure and technical bullsh*t.

I was told one of my teeth could be extracted on the NHS, but that if I wanted to opt for root canal work, although this could be done on the NHS, there would be a high risk (60%) of failure, but if I elected to go to a private root canal specialist, (£400) this would be a better option.

I suspect the NHS dentist could be in line for a referral fee from the specialist, which would be included in this sum - can anyone confirm or otherwise if this practice is prevalent ?

Why should a properly trained NHS dentist not be capable of root canal work to a high standard ? It's not brain surgery !!

As a dental professional it is interesting to see how some comments are harsh.
On the NHS System

Example: removal of tooth NHS Band 2 ie £47.00 time 30 mins
Filling of tooth NHS Band 2 ie £47.00 time 45 mins
root canal followed by filling Band 2 £47.00 3 hours in divided appointments
mind you costs and overheads are not included not to mention professional registrations and indemnities. I would rather not do a compromised job and question my ethics in this situation.
You do not go to Sainsbury or Tesco or Waitrose and say that I am only going to pay in three bands irrespective of what I pick from the shelf.

In reality the NHS system is a failed system which I reiterate that the Government fails to admit and trust me it is getting worse.

Dentistry is a skill with the use of materials hence you pay for what you get and not a standard rate for everything.
You can buy a Ford Focus or a Bentley, the price varies on craftsmanship and materials and yet they are both cars and modes of transport.

After 5 years of training, then another 2 years of intern ship and optional postgraduation which could take several years, I think dentists deserve to charge according to their skill level and time. Besides you only pay and undergo treatment that you have understood and agreed before hand.

UK dentists (in London at least) seem to only be interested in how much money they can extract. They overcharge for extremely poor shoddy work,claim practically nothing is available on the NHS (even when it is) if they do do NHS work it is done at an even lower and shoddier standard. Most of my friends in London are from other countries and I have lived in several countries round the world, unfortunately having been in London for the last fifteen years I have seen my teeth destroyed by one 2nd rate dentist after another. Among my friends there is almost universal fear of having to go to a dentist in London. I know of several people who have had ''dental nightmares'' having been treated in the UK and only avoided serious health problems having fled abroad for treatment. I don't know if it is because British dental training/standards have become so poor over the years or it is the greed/flyboy culture that has come to dominate that is the problem. If you have anyway of going elsewhere for treatment - I can only say do it. I wish to hell I had.

 Absolutely agree with KMAN35. I personally seen as doctor drilled my teeth and did not even washed and dried it afterwards just blowed with air and put the filling. This way they make it rotten in near future making sure you will come back again. The problem is it is hard to prove what they have done hence they are getting away with it.
On the other hand I do blame the dentist prices being high (VERY high) in the UK. For the price of private treatment I can fly to Azerbaijan do a propper treatement and come back and save money. So the question is why the prices are so high here? It is definately not the supplies costly as suppliers are almost the  same in Azerbaijan!
I am getting an impression that majority of the dentist in the UK simply liars! 
 

People!  NHS is what is killing the dental profession in the UK.  I am from Canada where there is NO free dental care.  If you are on welfare you can get a subsidy but welfare doesnt last forever like it does here.
What we have is a high quality dental profession.  Sure, you pay for it but what is the problem with that?  Dont you have to pay for things in life?  Dont you have to pay for everything else?  Why not the maintenance of your teeth?  Why should the taxpayer pay for your teeth if you abuse them with a bad diet and smoking (which seems a prominent life style here).
Unfortunately for me, I have an extended visit assisting my British mother and have a root canal required unexpectedly.  I am terrified of the dental profession here and would not touch an NHS office.  My teeth are everything to me and I am considering flying home rather than deal with a 3rd world profession under the NHS.  The dental profession is not controlled here either in the right way.  In Canada the prices do not vary dentist to dentist.  There are set fees so you know what you are paying but here they charge whatever.  I paid 48 pounds for a stupid xray from a ridiculous person calling himself a dentist who had no idea what the problem was.  I think he would rather make easy money on NHS rather than carry out the hard and exacting work that Dentists perform.
I have ultimate respect for the Dentists who work to maintain standards in this country which overall decline year over year.  Stop expecting everything for free people and realize that this mentality is only driving down the quality of service.
One day soon enough you also will have no confidence in your British dental profession but dont blame them, blame the NHS mentality. Such a pity!  Once such a great country.
 

 I needed a filling recently and as well i chose a white filling. My dentist quoted me around 170 pounds for the filling so i decided to shop around and found a dentist in redbourn, hertforshire just outside london in the hemel hempstead, st albuns area who could do the treatment for half the price. Its worth shopping around. For his details redbourndental.com 
 

I've been with the same dentist for around seventeen years and pay through Denplan. The quality of treatment has been adequate and I'm happy to have not been propositioned to consider unnecessary work.
About six years ago my dentist reported that some older fillings had become 'buckled' and would probably need to be replaced within the next few months. I agreed but was not offered an appointment at that time. I mentioned this at the next few half-yearly checkups but couldn't get a straight answer so assumed there was a funding issue. Whatever might have been wrong wasn't causing me any discomfort so I let it slide.
More recently I've lost small areas of enamel from the sides of two teeth which had previously been filled. Food becomes easily stuck in the recesses and the sharp edge of one catches my tongue sometimes but there's no pain. The other is ok most of the time but is painful when I eat certain foods.
My dentist won't offer treatment for either tooth, saying in respect of one tooth that a crown would be an unnecessarily invasive procedure. He has never given me a direct response in relation to the other tooth.
The regular checkups seemed to be getting shorter each time. It takes me forty minutes to drive to the surgery and on the last visit, despite arriving early I was kept waiting for a further thirty minutes. The 'inspection' lasted around ten seconds as the dentist held my mouth open with both hands and declared my teeth healthy.
I suppressed my initial reaction, thinking it was better to go home and calm down. The final straw came with a recent increase in the monthly Denplan rate so two days ago I rang Denplan to say I was cancelling with them at least temporarily until I could find a new dentist. They agreed to suspend cover immediately but want payment for a further twenty one days and to this end will collect next month's DD payment of £18.42. I know we live in a culture of reward for poor service and incompetence but this is ridiculous.
Being almost half way through February I hadn't thought of asking for a 50% refund of the money already paid but now Denplan want to be paid for a future period of over six weeks or forty six days. I've cancelled the DD with my bank and if they push the matter I'll send them a cheque for £3.70 to represent a pro rata period of six days in addition to the fifteen days for which I've already paid, assuming of course that I can verify their claim.