Dunno but should clarify that I meant clinical residency, not living-in-Canada residency.

Exactly. I had gingivites during both my pregnancies and my UK dentist did nothing to help or control and damage. Looking back I feel mighty pissed because that's one reason why pregnant ladies are given free dental care during and 1 year after pregnancy - gingivites is common during that time and causes a lot of damage.

Hence, I have had trouble with my gums ever since and only since moving to Canada has it improved vastly. My kids, who have never had a filling between them, see the hygenist twice a year to as it is considered preventative.

Costs approximately $23 for checkup and hygenist cleaning with insurance. I had an old large amalgam filling replaced last week for a new white one at the cost of $31. My dentist uses gum numbing gel prior to freezing and I never felt the needle AT ALL

Was he a dentist or a dental surgeon perhaps?...the surgery aspect in the UK requires long additional training and would run into the same residency requirement issues here that UK doctors can face...

Might be the same for dentistry, you are right though that it was a bunch of hassle for biiinks husband for whatever reason.

OK

hi i am in airdrie as well yes i need 3 crowns to be done at $1200 each was waiting for wife to get her benifit now i have lost my job so no benifits at all
peter

Hmm, where to start. Private dentis vs NHs dentis.
I was registered with a private dentist (although she carried out NHS treatments one day a week) I went in for a wisdonm tooth extractio, just as she is about to start, she say, we usually refer people to the hospital for wisdom teeth, then proceeded to yank away in my mouth. Needless to say, she sheared away half the tooth, couldn't get the rest out, and had to do referral to hospital.
I was left in apin for a LONG time.
Went to hospital for NHs to finish what she started, cound not have been better, no pain, in and out within 20 mins. I'd pick NHS over that private lady any day!
Yet to experience canadian option on dentistry, but sounds expensive, so i'll just have to take good care of them!!

Did your employer not give you the option to keep paying for your benefits for a few months once they let you go....it seems standard practice around here, at least in my experience.

$1200 each seems steep, but its been a while since I had root canal/ crowns done.

Don't kid yourself private in UK is expensive as well.
1 filling and a proper cleaning £250...so there is a difference between the way they work on NHS patients opposed to those of us who paid for proper dentistry.

I have always paid for my dentistry so I did find NHS substandard compared to canadian dentists....

Nope - friend is dentist in Uk and he did a scale and polish on a few teeth for me to see the diff - because I felt left out of the S & P club - was no diff!! I must have lucky teeth

I've been quite impressed with the dentists I've been to in Edmonton and then Calgary and they've picked up a couple of things that should have been sorted out before. However, without a company health plan I would consider the cost very high, probably higher than private in the UK.

NHS is fine for what it is - a lower cost more basic level of treatment. There are still plenty of NHS dentists in the UK despite the occasional headline about queues for dentists. Also there is no charge for children and OAPs so it is a good safety net for everyone.

Like the UK, dentists here will charge the maximum the market will bear. Here I think the market will bear a higher price as the company health plans are probably more common and the dentists can take advantage of that. The NHS alternative probably helps to restrain the wilder excesses of private dentists overcharging in the UK.

currently in manitoba a UK trained dentist will need to go to university for two years before they can practice.

Your wife should check the requirements in the province you are heading to. It may be that the requirements on the east coast are more relaxed

I was told that i had an impacted tooth at the back around 2001. I had a specialist lined up but at the last minute couldnt get it done cos my wife had to work and couldnt pick me up from the dentists. Anyhooo... when i went back to London i got an NHS dentist. I told him about it and he showed me an xray and low and behold there was no tooth there at all. I always wondered about the whole company insurance and going to the dentist constantly, like they do over there. If you wanna be rich in Canada, become a dentist.

Ooh and its so expensive in Ireland for dentist that people go for a weekend to Hungary and have dental work done over there cos it so much cheaper. My cousin just did it and said they were excellent and a 3rd of the price.

Bit sweeping and generalising. Just cos your dentist was obviously shite. The whole bad teeth brits drove me insane when i was over there. Having come back i agree there are a lot of bad teeth here but thats cos people dont go not the quality of the dentists.

To be fair Canada does also have a baseline welfare level access to dentistry... I know the guy who administers it locally. The problem with it is it does nothing for preventative maintainence and will only intervene at the point things are so bad something has to be done, and it only applies to those near the bottom of the welfare heap.


I dont think the brits have "Bad" (ie unhealthy) teeth, but under the NHS the emphasis is on function, not aesthetics, so there is not the prevalence of cosmetic veneers, braces for kids with even slighty imperfect smiles etc etc. In short they may look bad, but I suspect that overall british mouths may even be more healthy then here as everyone at least has affordable access to basic care.

That's the truth. My Calgary dentist regales me with hilarious tales about the expense of having to send his daughters to Oxford University, and of the outrageous thieves at Mercedes who deign to service his CL55 AMG.