Dear LPG,

Here is something that may well affect many readers of a certain age and consequently many readers of this website I would think, though most may avoid talking about it in polite society. 

As an oldie I am amazed at the amount that people are happy to spend on a perfect smile these days.  It is a long story but an accident left me missing of a front tooth when I was in my teens.  I spent the best part of my adult life with a crown which served me well until that broke too.  That all happened before the dental implant became the way forward, and so I have spent the last twenty or so years with a denture which has allowed me to look and feel reasonably normal. I know that many a pensioner who wears one often forgets it is there, which is as it should be, and I also know that I am not the only pensioner that has suddenly become toothless due to the desire to attack a chicken bone or sink their gnashers into a toffee for old time’s sake.

That is what happened to me and because of the position of my missing tooth I spent a week frightened to open my mouth for fear of looking like a witch because of my toothless smile.

It was only a week, but the experience left me thinking about the value of having a back-up front tooth just in case it happens again although, the fear of how much a dental back-up plan would cost really left me thinking that it would be more than I would even be able to afford. 

The current £269.30 that it now costs for maximum NHS treatment is about what I would be able to afford and I assumed that I would not be entitled to an extra set unless I paid for them privately.    

When I last visited, I asked my dentist about this and he explained for those who have a fear of suddenly finding themselves toothless, but without the money to finance a privately funded back-up pair of the cheaper old-fashioned removables, there is bad and good news. 

It might cost as much as the maximum NHS dental treatment charge (which is a lot less than any of the alternatives), but you can have a second denture made on the NHS even if you had one made as part of your last full course of NHS treatment. 

It is also worth noting that if you have one made and, very quickly after, find it to be Ill-fitting you need to let your dentist know as soon as possible, and if all the adjusting in the world is really not helping you to eat, talk and wear them comfortably, you are entitled to get another pair made strait away without any extra cost.

TM, New Cross

LPG found some NHS information that might help…

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