A MAYO WOMAN'S VIEW: The exorbitant cost of keeping your teeth

by Barbara Daly

It has long been talked about in this country, the cost of dentistry.

It is exorbitant.

And now added to that is the difficulty in getting an appointment to see a dentist.

The next free appointment always seems to be two months away.

When it comes to the state of our teeth, those of my age are dealing with the legacy of the dentistry of the ‘70s and ‘80s and sometimes our own parents more relaxed attitude to the care of our teeth.

I am 50 years of age and when I was in my early teens I was given a mouthful of big mercury fillings.

I have had so much dentistry over the years since reaching adulthood that I have lost count of the number of procedures and the cost. Safe to say though that I have probably spent the equivalent of what we paid as a deposit on our house.

Have I always looked after my teeth to the extent I should have? No, but I have not been the worst offender.

I always assumed that the poor state of my teeth was genetic but the dentist recently knocked that on the head – diet as a child and dentistry, he said.

I have always tried to hang on to my teeth. Rather than have a tooth removed I have gone down the route of root canals, crowns and even an implant.

Unfortunately I now feel that with all of the increases in the cost of living and the need to provide security for the future with two small children, I can no longer justify the cost of expensive dental procedures.

I have opted for extractions from now on, if needed. It’s the difference between approximately €1,400 to save a small tooth and maybe €200 to have it removed.

This makes me feel very disappointed. I don’t want to lose my teeth and I don’t feel I should have to.

I don’t believe everything should be free in this world but I do think that essential health services such as dentistry should at least be affordable to all.

Around 15 years ago I was told I needed up to ten crowns. On a second opinion that dropped to four that were needed immediately.

I priced the treatment locally and then priced a dentist in Northern Ireland and the cost was 50% less.

I was single at the time so I travelled up and down to Enniskillen and though there was hassle involved, the practice I attended was excellent. With over 90% of their patients being from the Republic of Ireland they were very good at accommodating my needs for travelling, etcetera.

I cannot do that now, although maybe I need to reconsider it if I don’t want to end up losing teeth in the next five years.

To top it all off I went to my dentist this week to get the first offending tooth removed, feeling quite emotional about it. I ended up having one of the most painful experiences of my life and that includes two caesarean sections!

I left 45 minutes later crying and shaking from the pain with a prescription for antibiotics and a referral for sedation to have the tooth removed. All I could think about while I was driving home was that I would have paid €1,400 not to have had to go through that pain!

So as you can tell dentistry has been an expensive part of my life for years now and it looks likely to continue to be. When it comes to my children’s teeth I will do everything I can do protect them from all of this.