There are different bands of charges for all NHS dental treatments.
If you need treatment from more than 1 dental band as part of your treatment plan, you will only be charged the cost of the highest band. You will not be charged for each individual treatment.
For example, if you need an X-ray (band 1) and root canal treatment (band 2), you will be charged for band 2 treatment (£70.70).
Your dentist will decide your treatment band, based on clinical need.
Band 1 dental treatment: £25.80
This charge covers any of the following:
- 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
Band 2 dental treatment: £70.70
This charge covers 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" (does not 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 does not include laboratory-made splints)
- transplanting teeth
Band 3 dental treatment: £306.80
This charge covers 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.
Urgent dental treatment: £25.80
If you need urgent dental treatment, your dentist will decide the care you need to treat your pain and to stop your dental health getting worse.
This charge covers any of the following urgent treatments:
- examination, assessment and advice
- X-rays
- dressing of teeth and palliative treatment
- pulpectomy or vital pulpotomy
- fixing a tooth that has been knocked out and any necessary treatment
- repairing and refixing inlays and crowns
- refixing a bridge and adding temporary bridges
- removing no more than 2 teeth
- aftercare, including treatment for infections
- adjustment and alteration of dentures or orthodontic appliances
- urgent treatment for acute conditions such as ulcers and herpetic lesions
- treatment of sensitive cementum or dentine
- draining an abscess
- other treatment needed after trauma
- 1 urgent permanent filling (routine and non-urgent fillings are a band 2 treatment)