Dental care: 'Postcode lottery' for costs

The cost of dental treatment can vary dramatically depending on where in the UK you live, a study has suggested.

On average, a private dental check-up costs just £31 in Birmingham, but £62 in Milton Keynes.

Root canal treatment is cheapest in Glasgow, at £185, but most expensive in York, where it costs £356.

The study of more than 12,000 dentists across the UK was carried out by the private healthcare website WhatClinic.com.

Dentists registered with the NHS are obliged to offer cheaper prices to patients, but in practice such prices can be difficult to access.

"Regular dental check-ups every six months are recommended for all the family, and as everyone knows, these costs can really add up," said Emily Ross, director of WhatClinic.

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The study showed large variations in dental fees across five different treatments: check-ups, veneers, whitening, root canals and dental implants.

Veneers are cheapest in Leicester, where they cost £318 on average, but most expensive in Cheltenham, where they cost £570.

Dental implants are cheapest in Newcastle on Tyne, where they cost £1,383. In London the average cost is £2,420.

This summer, the consumer group Which? called for the Competition and Markets Authority to investigate the dental market.

An inquiry by the Office of Fair Trading in 2012 found that half a million patients a year were paying over the odds for private care, after being told, wrongly, that there was no NHS alternative.

Dentists are required to show a list of NHS prices, but they do not have to advertise the cost of private treatment.

Under the NHS, a check-up costs £18.80, while a private check-up costs an average of £46.

NHS root canal treatment costs £51.30, compared to the private average of £267.