Ouch! British dental care the most expensive in Europe

[T_i_B]

Doesn't help when NHS Dentists are so thin on the ground.

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article3324427.ece

Dental treatment in England is the most expensive in Europe, according to an unprecedented survey which is likely to fuel the exodus of patients seeking treatment abroad.

The survey of nine European countries found the total cost of a standard filling ranged from €156 (£117) in England to €8 in Hungary. That total included the cost of x-rays, materials, drugs and overheads, as well as the dentist's time.

The findings come amid growing dissatisfaction with dentistry in Britain and shrinking NHS provision. The Government admitted last March that two million patients who wanted NHS treatment were unable to get it, eight years after Tony Blair pledged at the Labour Party conference in 1999 that everyone would have access to an NHS dentist.

Dentists have dramatically increased their private work over the past decade, at the expense of their NHS work, and when a new NHS practice opens, desperate patients queue to register. Dentists with their own practices earned an average of £105,000 in 2004-05. More than half their total income (52.4 per cent) came from private work, up from 41.8 per cent in 1999-2000. In 1990 it was 6 per cent.

[enlightenment]

1. Still be thankful you're in Britain -

it costs about twice that for a silver amalgam filling (not the fancy resin kind) in the US. And dental insurance - assuming you can get it/afford it - generally only pays about 50%.

[Canadian_moderate]

2. England's still quite expensive

A friend of mine who's living in England had major dental work done when he visited Toronto, Canada over the holidays due to the high cost in dental care in England.

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3. The trouble comes when you try and find an NHS Dentist

NHS Dentists are thin on the ground and demand for NHS dentists is high. That's where many of the problems start. I'm sure there are a few of us on here who have had problems finding an NHS dentist who isn't oversubscribed.