Updated 12th March 2019
Dentistry is one of the few NHS services where you have to pay a contribution towards the cost of your care. The NHS dental charges information on this page is reproduced from the NHS website and explains what you may have to pay for your NHS dental treatment during the year from 1st April 2019 to 31st March 2019.
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Urgent emergency dental treatment – £22.70
This covers emergency treatment in a primary care NHS dental practice such as pain relief or a temporary filling.
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Band 1 course of treatment – £22.70
This covers one or more treatments (as many as are necessary) from the following list :
- adjusting false teeth (dentures) or orthodontic appliances, such as braces
- applying sealants or fluoride preparations to the surfaces of your teeth
- a clinical examination, assessment and report
- marginal correction of fillings
- moulds of your teeth – for example, to see how your teeth bite together
- an orthodontic assessment and report
- a scale and polish (if clinically necessary)
- coloured photographs
- taking a sample of cells or tissue from your mouth for examination
- treating sensitive cementum (the tissue that covers the root of a tooth)
- X-rays
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Band 2 course of treatment – £62.10
This can cover anything listed in band 1 above, plus any of the following:
- an addition to your dentures – such as adding a clasp or a tooth
- apicectomy – removing the tip of the root of a tooth
- a mouth guard to correct your “bite” (doesn’t include a laboratory-made appliance)
- fillings
- free gingival grafts – when healthy tissue from the roof of your mouth is attached to your teeth where the root is exposed
- frenectomy, frenoplasty or frenotomy – surgery to the folds of tissue that connect your tongue, lips and cheeks to your jaw bone
- treatment for severe gum disease – such as root planing (cleaning bacteria from the roots of your teeth), deep scaling and a polish, or a gingivectomy (removal of gum tissue)
- oral surgery – such as removing a cyst, or soft tissue surgery to the mouth or lips
- pulpotomy – removing dental pulp (the soft tissue at the centre of a tooth)
- relining and rebasing dentures
- removing teeth (extraction)
- root canal treatment
- sealant to fill small holes or grooves in your teeth
- splinting loose teeth – for example, after an accident (this doesn’t include laboratory-made splints)
- transplanting teeth
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Band 3 course of treatment – £269.30
This can cover anything listed in bands 1 and 2 above, plus any of the following :
- bridges – a fixed replacement for a missing tooth or teeth
- crowns – a type of cap that completely covers your real tooth
- dentures
- inlays, pinlays and onlays – used to restore damaged teeth
- orthodontic treatment and appliances such as braces
- other custom-made appliances, not including sports guards
- veneers and palatal veneers – new surfaces for the front or back of a tooth
Treatments such as veneers and braces are only available on the NHS if there’s a clinical need for them (not for cosmetic reasons). Similarly, other cosmetic treatments, such as teeth whitening, are not available on the NHS.
Any treatment that your dentist believes is clinically necessary to achieve and maintain good oral health could be available on the NHS.
For information about help with dental charges, including how to claim a refund, see the NHS website: help with health costs.
You will not be charged for individual items within an NHS course of treatment. Depending on what you need to have done, you should only ever be asked to pay one charge for each completed course of treatment, even if you need to visit your dentist more than once to finish it. A course of treatment is completed when the treatment listed in your treatment plan has been provided in full.
SpaDental only provides NHS treatment at some practices where we also provide private and plan dental treatment. If you are at unsure whether you are paying for NHS or private treatment, or a mixture of the two, please ask any member of the SpaDental clinical staff before your treatment begins.
Be aware that being late for two or more of your treatment sessions or failure to attend appointments will result in the early termination of the course of treatment. You will not be offered another NHS appointment at a SpaDental practice.
You do not have to pay a dental charge:
- if you are having stitches removed
- if your dentist has to stop bleeding from your mouth
- if your dentures need repair. However, if it isn’t possible to repair your dentures and you need new ones then you’ll have to pay for this with a Band 3 charge
The NHS will not provide cosmetic treatment such as tooth whitening, which you may want to make your teeth more attractive, but which are not clinically necessary. Even where treatment is clinically necessary the dentist will offer you a treatment option that is clinically appropriate. If you choose to have alternative treatment options then you will have to pay privately for these.
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