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The cheapest and most expensive areas for dental treatment
The cost of keeping your teeth and gums healthy using a private dentist is a postcode lottery.
That’s according to new research from private healthcare search engine WhatClinic.
It analysed the fees charged by more than 11,000 private clinics across the UK using five common reasons for a visit: a check-up, teeth whitening, veneers, dental implants and root-canal.
WhatClinic found that the cost of dental treatments can differ by up to £1,583 for a complicated treatment like dental implants and up to £52 for something as straightforward as a check-up depending on the area your clinic is located.
Check-ups
Even if you have perfect teeth, you’ll need to go for a check-up at least once every six months.
According to the WhatClinic research you can expect to pay £36 on average for a check-up at private dentists in the UK.
But there can be a price difference of up to 347% depending on your clinic's location.
Rank | Cheapest areas for a check-up | Average cost | Most expensive areas for a check-up | Average cost |
1 | Bradford | £15 | Stratford-upon-Avon | £67 |
2 | Worcester | £18 | Newbury | £56 |
3 | Swindon | £19 | Guildford | £52 |
4 | Birmingham | £20 | Milton Keynes | £46 |
5 | Wolverhampton | £23 | Tunbridge Wells | £45 |
The most expensive place to a have a standard dental check-up is Stratford-upon-Avon where it will cost an average of £67, but travel to a Bradford clinic and you’ll pay just £15 on average – over £50 less!
Teeth whitening
Teeth whitening has become popular in recent years and on average you will pay £310 to get it done in the UK at a private clinic.
However, prices can vary by up to 268% between the cheapest and most expensive areas.
Rank | Cheapest areas for teeth whitening | Average cost | Most expensive areas for teeth whitening | Average cost |
1 | Portsmouth | £163 | London | £600 |
2 | Dorchester | £199 | Canterbury | £426 |
3 | Chester | £200 | Solihul | £425 |
4 | Stockport | £203 | St Albans | £391 |
5 | Tunbridge Wells | £217 | Windsor | £388 |
As you can see Londoners can expect to pay an average of £600 to get their teeth looking pearly white, whereas in Portsmouth the exact same treatment costs £163 – a whopping £447 difference.
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Veneers
Veneers sometimes need to be applied to damaged teeth. The average cost of getting the treatment privately in the UK is £428.
WhatClinic found prices can vary by up to 154% for this type of procedure between the cheapest and most expensive areas.
Rank | Cheapest areas for veneers | Average cost | Most expensive areas for veneers | Average cost |
1 | Wolverhampton | £240 | Oxford | £610 |
2 | Dundee | £275 | Guildford | £585 |
3 | Bedford | £275 | Newbury | £570 |
4 | Chester | £280 | Worcester | £520 |
5 | Portsmouth | £300 | Stoke-on-Trent | £498 |
In Wolverhampton you can get veneers put in for an average of £240, but in Oxford you’ll have to shell out £610. That’s a £370 difference!
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Dental implants
Dental implants are used to secure crowns, bridges or dentures when teeth are badly damaged or missing.
The research found this sort of treatment costs £1,894 on average at private UK clinics.
Dental implants were the most expensive procedure to be included in the research and so even though prices 'only' varied by up to 138% the price difference between the cheapest and most expensive area was the biggest recorded at £1,583.
Rank | Cheapest areas for dental implants | Average cost | Most expensive areas for dental implants | Average cost |
1 | Oxford | £1,150 | Plymouth | £2,733 |
2 | London | £1,200 | Bedford | £2,484 |
3 | Guildford | £1,225 | Weston-super-Mare | £2,400 |
4 | Halifax | £1,295 | Harrogate | £2,333 |
5 | Wolverhampton | £1,340 | Winchester | £2,300 |
Those in Plymouth face the highest charges for dental implants with the work costing £2,733 on average.
Surprisingly, the cheapest areas for this sort of complicated procedure were found to be in the south of England, with Oxford (£1,150), London (£1,200) and Guildford (£1,225) making the top three cheapest places to go for the work.
Root canal
Root canal treatments are used to save teeth which would otherwise need to be removed.
On average this often painful procedure will cost £244 at private clinics. But the disparity between prices is huge on this type of treatment depending on your location.
Costs can vary by up to 892%, which is the biggest disparity between the cheapest and most expensive areas the research recorded.
Rank | Cheapest areas for root canal | Average cost | Most expensive areas for root canal | Average cost |
1 | Bradford | £60 | Stockport | £595 |
2 | Swindon | £85 | Newbury | £493 |
3 | London | £119 | Northampton | £369 |
4 | Worcester | £120 | Windsor | £350 |
5 | Maidenhead | £150 | Canterbury | £338 |
In Bradford you’ll find the cheapest average price of £60 for root canal, but in Stockport you can expect to pay a whopping £595 for the treatment – that’s £535 more!
How to cut the cost of dental treatment
The research shows you could save a great deal of money on dental treatment by picking a cheaper area and shopping around for the cheapest deal. Below is a summary of the cheapest and most expensive places for the five different treatments.
Treatment | Cheapest area | Av cost | Most expensive area | Av cost | Price difference (£) | Price difference (%) |
Check-up | Bradford | £15 | Stratford-upon-Avon | £67 | £52 | 347% |
Teeth whitening | Portsmouth | £163 | London | £600 | £437 | 268% |
Veneers | Wolverhampton | £240 | Oxford | £610 | £370 | 154% |
Dental implant | Oxford | £1,150 | Plymouth | £2,733 | £1,583 | 138% |
Root-canal | Bradford | £60 | Stockport | £595 | £535 | 892% |
You could save nearly £1,600 by hopping on a train from Plymouth to Oxford to get some dental implants put in. But some people have braved travelling abroad to find even cheaper treatment, though the follow-up care might be a bit of a problem!
Getting the treatment you need on the NHS can also reduce the cost by a significant amount. There are three bands of charges for NHS patients which apply according to the type of treatment you require.
Charges start at £18 for a basic check-up which includes x-rays as well as a scale and a polish if needed. The second tier of treatments attract a charge of £49 for things like fillings, root-canal and extractions, while the top price of £214 is charged for more complicated procedures such as crowns, dentures and bridges.
Some groups are entitled to free dental treatment on the NHS like those aged under 18, those aged under 19 and in full time education, pregnant women or a woman who has had a child in the last 12 months, those receiving certain benefits and those on a low income. You can check out the full breakdown of those eligible for free dental treatment on the NHS using the NHS HC11 leaflet.
Alternatively you can also save on treatments if you are prepared to brave a trainee dentist. There are several dental hospitals in the UK that offer treatments performed by students. All students are supervised so your gnashers will be in good hands. The Dental Schools Council has a list of UK dental schools that you can research further for prices and treatments available.
