Root Canal

[Ilovepainfreeteeh]

I recently started with pain in my tooth when drinking or eating hot food, the pain would last for at least 30 minutes and was off the scale with lightning pain in the tooth along the jaw up into my skull and down my neck.
I went to see my registered NHS dentist who gave me some antibiotics after 5 days i could stand it no longer and rang my NHS dentist back who told me they couldn't see me for another two weeks even though i was in severe pain.
The next night i woke up in agony and was actually crying on my bedroom floor and i am nearly 60 but it reduced this old man to tears.
I googled emergency dentists and found a local one who saw me first thing that morning and after an X-ray he confirmed that it was molar no.12 and not molar no.11 but when the pain is bad its hard for a patient to know exactly where it is coming from until the dentist tapped each tooth and no.12 felt very painful to tap.
The problem is molar 12 has a gold crown and after he tried to get the crown off without success he discussed the issue with his colleague and they decided to drill through the crown in order to save the tooth, he was able to remove indected nerve pulp from all four canals and put some antibiotic inside the tooth then sealed the crown with a white filling.
I am now pain free thank goodness but they referred me to a local private dentist and the treatment they have suggested includes
Consultation £140
Root Canal Therapy £600
Retreatment £650

This does not include final restoration and i take it that means it does not include the cost of a new crown.

Should I go to my normal registered NHS dentist who I have been registered with since i was 16 years old? Will that NHS dentist be able to help me ie finish the job and put a new crown back on the NHS or will this have to be private?

Should the emergency dentist have referred me back to my NHS dentist instead of referring to a private clinic.

If I have to pay private then i guess i have no choice other than have the tooth pulled but the emergency surgeon said that its always best to save a tooth and the structure of the molar is sound.

Kindest regards
Peter.

sorry i just realized i should have posted this in 'Endodontics' forum.

 

[MattKW]

I can't help you with NHS questions, but as for the others:

• You would have to pay for the Consultation and the RCT.
• A Retreatment only applies for an existing RCT, which you don't have, so this is not necessary in your case.
• As long as the last dentist didn't damage your old gold crown too much when trying to get it off, then it should only have an access hole in the top surface. There is no need to replace the crown; the RCT continues through the gold crown, and then the access cavity is refilled. The crown still surrounds the tooth and prevents fractures just like it always did. This would have to be assessed and confirmed at the consultation.