dental treatment costing �2000???

[joko]

a girl i know is claiming her dental treatment is going to cost �2000.
it stems from when she got punched about 4 years ago, not very hard but enough to make her front tooth bleed a bit.

well her new dentist apparently claims this will now cost �2000 for a brace.

however, she had a baby about 6 months ago and as far as i know she isn't working, so surely it shouldn't be costing her anything, and even if it did, �2000 sounds a hell of a lot for a 4 year old minor injury.

she had recently moved near to me and i suspect this new dentist is trying it on ( I have had suspicions about him myself)

or is she just trying to get attention and sympathy?

cheers

[loulou32]

Hi, I wouldnt be suprised at all at the cost! My brother in law needs a new crown on one of his teeth and he too has been quoted �2,000! He is working and has to pay for his treatment, however, my husband due to work commitments last year was unable to attend two of his check ups which resulted in him being struck off the list. I on the other hand was able to atttend all my appointments and due to the changes my dentist shut down so me and the kids where transferred to another NHS dentist. After alot of phonecalls to try and get my husband in with our dentist we where told that the government could not release any more funding for an NHS dentist and that he would have to pay for all of his treatment (even though we are on FTC). Its crazy!!!!!!!!

[enigma]

I was always of the impression that every woman has the right to free dental treatment during pregnancy and up until the baby is one year old but when I googled this to double check , it is correct as long as the mother holds a valid maternity certificate - which if she has not ben in paid employment prior to her pregnancy and therefore did not qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (smp) then this may indeed be the case that she has to pay. �2000 seems rather excessive though. I would get a second opinion.

It would be worth asking her to give her local Citizens advice bureau a call to check her rights.

[MrBen5]

Hmmm, i have some false teeth at the front of my mouth and to get them done would cost me �2,000 each, so it seems right. Depends what she is having done though...

[Ethel]

The most anybody pays for a course of dental treatment under the NHS is �189.

But the NHS will only do 'necessary' dental work, not purely cosmetic.

If your friend is being treated privately, the sky is the limit with dental costs.

In some areas it is nearly impossible to get an NHS dentist, and private dentists charge for everything.

[RATTER15]

Well Ethel, that is what I thought, a course of treatment is capped at �189.00, I imagine she is having non essential work done.

[joko]

i just wondered because her tooth looks fine to me and has been for 4 years, so i don't see why it can suddenly need treatment for a 4 year old minor injury.

I can't really see what they will do to the tooth either, she said she needed a brace, but it is one of the two front teeth so i don't what a brace can do there really.

she has a 9 year old and a 3 year old too, so i doubt she has worked much in last few years.

i've never had any major dental work done so it just sounded a lot.

she's quite dramatic and a bit mad at times so i thought maybe she was just saying it for attention.

thanks

[Ethel]

I had a brace for years to correct the alignment of my three front teeth, so yes - people can have braces there.

[loukr]

I've just had a fixed brace put on, it cost over �2500, this was for ceramic brackets - clear ones (google this if you don't know what they are), and the metal ones were �150 cheaper, unless you go by the NHS, where you can have metal ones for free, but not ceramic ones..

Because I'm 18 I had to go privately, I don't know if this is just my orthodontist or all, but I'm still in full time education and that made no difference. A dentist is different to an orthodontist, so as enigma said, she may be entitled to free dental work as she has a child under 1 year, however this may not be the case for her orthodontist.

As you said you don't think she needs a brace.. well I didn't think I needed one, I've got a great dental record, all my teeth are pretty much straight, I just have one baby tooth that hasn't come out, so I need to wear a brace for 2 years, have the baby tooth extracted, and the adult pulled down with the brace!!

Her teeth may look like there's nothing wrong with them, but alot of the problems lay in the gums.

Hope this helps :D

Lou xx

[joko]

what i mean is, what can a brace do to a tooth that got punched?
it is straight, still there and looks fine.

could it be loose after all these years? it bled at the time but didn't fall out or anything.

the girl who punched her is a friend of mine and she only did it because this other girl hit her first.
as i say it wasn't a full on power punch, just a jab and now this girl is harping on and on about it, and i suspect she is just trying to make my friend feel guilty - even though she hit first and was unprovoked. (long story)
i was there and i don't believe it could have caused any real damage - though i may be wrong

we just wanted to know how likely it is to be true.

the girl has never forgotten this incident and won't let it go, which is why we suspect she is using this as an excuse.

[loukr]

well it is possible that she needs a brace but for another reason, and she's using the punch up to try to make your mate feel bad?

Ask her why she needs it and what it's going to do, I'd love to know! And if you find out, let me know, I've been lectured many times now about when and when you don't need a brace, I could maybe tell you if she's fibbing! Lou xx

[curiosity]

My son needs a brace and we went to the orthodonist NHS, if he wants the treatment there is a one year waiting list and he can only have metal glued on braces, for clear brace and immediate treatment it is going to cost �2000. The mother in law has also been quoted �1800 for her front tooth to be sorted with an implant. Expensive business teeth.

[loukr]

curiosity, to me �2000 sounds cheap for the ceramic braces, I think mine came to just under �2800, and that was just for the top row of teeth, the bottom are metal brackets. I think orthodontistry is a complete rip off, yeah it fixes your teeth, but you'd think a couple of bits of wire, some metal things, rubber bands and glue wouldn't cost that much would you?!!

my orthodontist was telling the nurse that the ceramic brackets cost �19 each, so thats quite alot of money in its self.. (not quite �2000 though!!)

[FredKBland]

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