Ive got a dead tooth to be extracted next week, (I had an accident with my toothbrush) have any of you had a bridge made privately? How much did you pay? Was it worth it? What kind did you get?
I must admit I’m freaking out a bit, but I’m asking because I suspect my NHS dentist won’t do any advanced dental work for the NHS and only wants to fill, clean, scale, polish or extract, meaning I’m gonna be left with a visible gap in my mouth, not to mention making biting difficult, and a plate for one tooth seems a bit daft.
I’m not sure an NHS dentist can refuse to do certain work. A gap between teeth weakens those around and also the one it used to bite against. It is essential work.
Morning Dollydaydream, my husband a retired dental technician, the person that makes crowns, bridges,dentures and I worked in the same lab in admin, so my hubby knows his stuff. So firstly Ziola is right, under the NHS dentist are required to do this kind of thing, as long as its not cosmetic, which yours does sound like it is, some don’t like to do bridge work as other teeth have to come into play, ie the 1 you have taken out, but they also need to file down other’s to span the bridge across, at least another 1, possibe 2 and by doing this it can and I only say can make those teeth vulnerable, having said that I’ve got a 3 unit bridge that I’ve had for donkeys years without any problems until just recently. A private bridge with cost you and every PVT dentist will charge differently, they want to do consultation, that costs, they want to do a treatment plan, that costs and so on. You can have 1 tooth denture too, but I think that depends how yu feel about dentures ? So I would definatley go back to your dentist and ask, interestingly where is your dentist, as he/she sounds very much like mine and belief me she doesn’t like it when we go in, because she knows my hubby knows the business, so good luck love.
Thanks for replying, everybody involved in this is in the London area.
The reason I am so suspicious of this is because a couple of years ago my other half had an issue with a lower molar he went to our dentist and was told he would need root canal treatment and possibly a Crown but he could not do this work on the NHS but he could extract it. of course my other half had the extraction even though the tooth was healthy!
my own situation is this tooth is a central incisor. Sadly due to childhood dental neglect I lost some of my adult teeth aged between eight and 11 years old I know there were at least two extractions possibly three, but don’t think it was as many as four.
The lateral incisor neighbouring the dead tooth is missing I do not remember having one there so either I was Born without one the same as both my father and One of my sisters (actually she has no lateral incisors) or it was extracted in childhood and I have forgotten ever having one there. The neighbouring central incisor is now completely black as the nerve was removed when I was 13 or 14 years old and I suspect my dentist is going to say that this tooth is not strong enough to support a bridge or use some other excuse and I will not be in any position to argue as I cannot tell someone how to do their job, or alternatively he may just simply say I can’t do this work on the NHS which is of course a lie!
I only have 8 upper teeth and already have two gaps due to adult extraction on opposite sides of my mouth towards the back. As I suspect my dentist is going to refuse to create a bridge to cover the missing central incisor I was thinking I could actually correct more than one tooth privately (dependent on price) by having both the Central incisors extracted and replaced with a bridge although admittedly one would only be for cosmetic purposes.
Hi Dollydaydream, so I’ve let my hubby read this, the retired technician and he said without seeing you he feels that you have few options, so 1st and cheapest option would be to have a partial denture made in order to fill some of the posterior gaps + your extracted central, option 2 would be a maryland bridge, (if your not sure what this is google) other than that pvt work could include an inplant with crown, but this will cost a few thousand, good luck.
Thank you and your husband very much. Its so nice picking the brain of someone who knows more about the topic than I do. I’m just waiting till Monday when hopefully this loose tooth is pulled, I’ll let you know what happens next, I’m going to be better off without a wobbly tooth but don’t fancy looking like a toothless crone!
the tooth’s out, came out yesterday. No problem so far although I do look like Zelda’s grandma! The dentist has offered me a plate, I asked if, as it’s only one tooth would a bridge not be more sensible but he said that the supporting teeth aren’t strong enough! So I’m going to give it a couple of weeks for the gum to heal and find a local private dentist and pay for a consultation. I might end up with a NHS plate or an private implant or if my dentist wasn’t telling the truth and some of other teeth could support a bridge maybe up to four teeth on that. I must admit that it’ll all be dependent upon price.
thankfully we’re all covering our mouths otherwise I scare the children right now!