Why is dentistry so expensive?

We are spoiled and completely unaware of the costs associated with healthcare in England e.g. being seen and treated in hospital or visiting our local doctor. Teeth are not unlike the rest of your body. When dental treatment is required, patients are exposed to the true cost of treatment.

Along with the regular overheads of running a business, including utility bills, staff wages, phone rental, renting premises, business rates, security and insurance, etc, there are additional costs incurred by dentists to enable us to provide you with dental care when you need it.

• We have to register and pay subscriptions to certain regulatory bodies and indemnifiers. This ensures we maintain certain standards and are safe to practice.
• All dental equipment is costly to buy and has to be serviced regularly to ensure it is fit for purpose.
• The dental materials we use are highly specialised and priced accordingly.
• All purchases involve VAT, but as a dental practice we cannot be VAT registered
• We use the services of a British dental laboratory and skilled technician to custom make crowns, dentures and bridges. Most of the laboratory work is finished off by hand.

Hence, our fees include the running costs of providing our unique dental service.

Ongoing Education

All dental health professionals are bound by the General Dental Council to undertake a certain level of ongoing education every year. All staff at DentArtWork Dental Care are dedicated to ensuring they keep abreast of the latest techniques and principles in dentistry. Courses, lectures and materials are essentially a cost incurred by dentists and again factored into the fees charged for services.

The Value of Oral Health

Finally, there is an issue of the value we place on our oral health. Think of how often you use your teeth and how long they last for. Do we take for granted how important a set of healthy, functional, nice looking teeth are? How much do you value your smile? We think nothing of spending money on all sorts of things, but we sometimes forget how important our teeth are when it comes to looking after them.

At DentArtWork Dental Care, we do not compete on price but aim to deliver the care we would ourselves hope to receive if we were on the other end!