Hi,
After termite damage and a whopping bill for Asbestos removal followed by a leaking roof which now needs to be replaced, my OH discovered that a back tooth has half crumbled away. As I can't find any current threads on the costs of dental things like tooth extraction on the forum, I am asking if anyone has any up to date information.

We're looking to go to a dentist around the Southport/Ashmore area on the Gold Coast. The thought of huge dental bills is giving us sleepless nights. A shop worker was telling us it cost $1500 for a root canal for his Mum last month. This type of information has given us real worries.

Does anyone else have any info about how the dental system works in Qld and current costs etc. ?

Thank you.

My husband had two teeth out last year. Cost us about $250. I had a quote for a root canal and it came in under $800.

$1500 is a ridiculous amount for a root canal! I had 4 wisdom teeth out in August under anaesthetic with a surgeon for less than $2k!

The dental system in Queensland is user pays (unless you have a concession card from Centrelink - low income earners and pensioners are eligible, or you are school age).

If you have private health insurance it may cover some of the cost.

If you have neither a concession card nor private health cover you will have to pay for the whole cost.

Dentist's prices vary tremendously so ring around and get estimates - they may not be able to give a definitive price unless they see your partner but a full root canal (somewhat different to an extraction) will likely be at least $800 in my experience.

Another alternative is to get seen by supervised students from Griffith Uni for a reduced fee (much reduced) at the Uni Clinic (http://www.griffith.edu.au/health/cl...-health-clinic).

For anyone else interested, UQ also offer the same in Brisbane (http://www.dentistry.uq.edu.au/index.html?page=99177).

Waiting times can be longer but if you aren't in acute pain can offer good standard of service for much cheaper costs!

Thanks for the help. We thought $1500 was excessive too.

We'll give the Uni Dentist a call in the morning. Thanks for the information!

The price can very on which tooth it is as well, I had a removal for $320 and my husband paid $380.

I thought I was going to need another removed last week but they managed to repair the problem still cost $360 but least I still have the tooth.

And not much money in my purse LOL.

I use the Uni Dentist they are very good just takes longer as they are learning, root canal cost was $500 and required 4 x 3hr appointments a normal dentist would do it a lot quicker than this but charge a lot more for it.

It may be a ridiculous amount but it's a realistic figure for such treatment.

It's ridiculous compared to what my dentist wanted to charge me for the sane procedure.

Especially if done to specialist standard using a microscope...sometimes you get what you pay for. One dentist's extraction may be pretty similar to another's, but the quality of root canals varies widely.

Very true, I had a root canal done in the U.K it cost me about 600 quid, after suffering with several painful abscesses over the next year or so I had the tooth pulled then had to have my jaw sorted as the dentist had drilled through the end of the root & filled my jaw with the debris.
After a quote of over 2k here to have another root canal I paid about $300 for a simple 20 min extraction

I will look into that one - have you had it done?

When I was in UK, with cheap flights I could travel to Turkey or Croatia for dentist to avoid stupidly expensive dental treatment and paying so much money does not guarantee that you will get a good dentist either. I paid 50-60 dollars each (50% discounted prices) for my root canals- including the fillings at a private hospital in Istanbul .. they may be free if you go to public hospitals. And believe me health system- doctors and dentists can be very good in Turkey.

Where do you go for dentist from Australia? Take a $1000 flight to Indonesia? : ) God it's become such a rip-off country in every way!

Much cheaper to go to Thailand for treatment, of course the Aussies tell you it's third world because they like to pay ten times the amount & get a proper Aussie dentist like Bruce Patel or Sheila Sing to do their dentistry

Shit pal,i could have helped you with yer dental for free

I thought you changed nappies, there's no end to your talent really is there? Do you learn "basic dentistry 101" at Mercenary school?