A bridge is a fixed replacement for one or more missing teeth. A crown is a type of cap that completely covers a real tooth. Fillings are used to repair a hole in a tooth caused by tooth decay. Crowns and bridges are available on the NHS (Band 3, £282.80).
Tooth abscesses can be treated in the NHS. Orthodontics is a type of dental treatment that aims to improve the appearance, position and function of crooked or abnormally arranged teeth. You can't mix NHS and private orthodontic treatment. The British Orthodontic Society provides patients with information on general orthodontics, as well as information aimed at adults and adolescents.
You can also find information about orthodontics on this site, including information specific to orthodontic appliances. One of the main advantages of having private dental care is that more time is generally allocated to routine private appointments than to those from the NHS. In addition, after-hours appointments can be offered, even at night and on weekends. This means that you don't have to be absent from work and can be taken care of quickly. Fortunately, many insurance companies in the UK offer specialized coverage for dental treatments. This may be your best option, depending on where you live and how long you have to wait to see an NHS dentist.
The NHS won't cover cosmetic treatments such as teeth whitening, which improve the appearance of teeth but aren't clinically necessary. If you want cosmetic treatment, you'll have to find a private dentist and pay to have it done. As a patient in a private dental office, you can receive specialized treatment and pay for cosmetic dentistry that isn't available in the Health Service. For example, you may have white fillings on your back teeth. You can go to a Health Service dentist with a fixed fee scale or pay a private dentist depending on the type of dental care and treatment you want. Another 2 million believe that they cannot go to the dentist where they live, so it is likely that almost one in ten people will not be able to go to the dentist.
The study placed the United Kingdom in sixth place overall, even though the country has a relatively low number of dentists per capita. Dentists are private NHS contractors, which means that dentists buy the building and equip the office, hire all staff and pay all operating expenses, including salaries, materials and insurance, to provide an NHS dental service.
