In article ,
stuart noble writes:
Well OT of course but anyone got any opinions on the muddle known as NHS
dentistry? Band 3 (£222.50) is supposed to cover crowns and bridges but
it seems dentists are unable, or unwilling, to provide that service.
They say it only covers procedures where there is a "clinical need" but
that seems like a hell of a grey area. I'd say a missing front tooth
should not be classed as cosmetic, but what do I know?
TIA for any input before I'm finally forced to go private?

Couldn't find anything about crowns and bridges, but
http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/nhs-fill...CategoryID=742
says white fillings are available on the NHS for front teeth,
but not for back teeth as that would be purely cosmetic.

Does the front tooth still have a usable root? That can make
a significant difference to treatment options and the actual
cost (although not the NHS charge). A crown on an existing
root would probably be £400-£500.

I asked my dentist what the (private) charge for a bridge was,
as a rough guide for a friend, and he said around £400 per
tooth involved. So for a missing tooth bridged to the ones
either side, £1200 would be typical. However, costs can
vary considerably due to individual differences (and that was
probably 5+ years ago).

Another option if there's no root is to have a titanium socket
inserted if the bone is in good enough condition. If the bone
is not in good enough condition (often the case if there's been
no tooth there for a long time), you might be able to first have
a bone graft done (I knew someone who had this done some years
ago). No idea on the cost of this, but probably quite substantial.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]