Treatment Options Compared

You’ve got a treatment plan in your hand. It might be an NHS FP17DC form with “Band 3” written on it, or a private quote with five line items and a total that made you sit down. Either way, the dentist has recommended one way to fill a gap, and you’re wondering if it’s the right one, whether the price is fair, and what the other options would have cost.

This page covers the three main ways to replace a missing tooth in the UK: an implant, a bridge or a denture. It sets out what each one costs on the NHS and privately, how long each tends to last, which clinical factors push a dentist towards one over another, and how to use ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini to check your plan without being misled. For a closer look at the two fixed options on their own, see Dental Implant vs Bridge: Pros and Cons.

What each option physically involves

An implant is a titanium (occasionally zirconia) screw placed into the jawbone where the root used to be. After about three to six months the bone fuses to it, a process called osseointegration. A connector called an abutment then goes on top, and a crown is fitted to that. Your neighbouring teeth are not touched. You will usually have at least three appointments: placement, a check that the implant has integrated, and fitting of the crown. Many plans add a CBCT scan (a 3D X-ray) beforehand.

A bridge fills the gap with a false tooth (the “pontic”) held in place by the teeth on either side. There are two main types:

• Conventional bridge: the neighbouring teeth are filed down and crowned, and the false tooth is joined to those crowns. Preparing a tooth for a full crown removes a lot of healthy tooth structure, roughly two-thirds of what sits above the gum in the studies usually cited.
• Resin-bonded (Maryland) bridge: a thin metal or ceramic wing is glued to the back of one neighbouring tooth. Hardly any drilling is needed, but it is better suited to front teeth and low-force areas, and it can come unstuck.

A denture is removable. For one or a few missing teeth you’d get a partial denture, either acrylic (plastic, cheaper, bulkier) or cobalt-chrome (a thin metal framework with acrylic teeth, stronger and less bulky). Missing all teeth in an arch means a full denture, which is held in place by suction and the shape of your gums, or clipped onto two to four implants if you go for an implant-retained denture.

What each option costs in the UK

Prices vary a lot by region and practice. The figures below are typical ranges you’ll see on UK practice price lists and should be read as a sanity check, not a quote.

NHS charges (England, 2025/26 rates):

NHS charges usually go up each April, so check the current figure on the NHS website before you rely on these. Wales and Northern Ireland have their own charges, and in Scotland you pay 80% of the treatment fee with a cap of £384 per course. Whatever the price, a Band 3 course covers all the clinically necessary work in that course, so a bridge plus two fillings is still one charge.

Implants are almost never available on the NHS. The exceptions are hospital cases: mouth cancer, serious facial injury or teeth that never developed (hypodontia). If your general dentist tells you an implant “isn’t available on the NHS”, that’s normal and not a sales tactic.

Private prices:

Both NHS and private patients should get a written plan with prices before treatment starts. If you’re an NHS patient and the dentist offers a private item alongside your NHS course (say, a private implant instead of an NHS denture), that’s allowed, but it has to be written down and you should be told what the NHS alternative is.

How long each lasts, and what that does to the real cost

Comparing totals on their own is misleading. A £300 denture that you replace three times can end up costing more than one implant, and that implant still needs hygienist visits for the rest of your life.

Rough lifespans from the clinical literature and what UK dentists quote:

• Implants: around 95% are still in place after ten years. The crown on top may need replacing after 10 to 15 years.
• Conventional bridges: usually 10 to 15 years. When they fail it’s often because of decay or a root canal problem in one of the supporting teeth, and that can leave you with a bigger gap than you began with.
• Resin-bonded bridges: very variable. Many debond (come unstuck) at some point, but they can often be glued back on cheaply.
• Acrylic partial dentures: 5 to 7 years, and they need relining as your gums shrink.
• Chrome partial dentures: 8 to 12 years.

Here’s a worked comparison for one missing lower back tooth, using mid-range private prices over 20 years:

On paper the implant looks expensive, and some people would see the hygienist anyway, which cuts the gap a lot. The table also can’t show what you’re actually buying. The implant leaves two healthy teeth untouched. The bridge puts those two teeth at risk. The denture comes out at night, can move when you eat, and puts extra load on the teeth it clips onto. Plenty of people who can afford an implant still pick a bridge or a denture, and that’s a reasonable decision as long as it’s made knowing the trade-offs.

The clinical factors that actually decide it

A dentist rarely picks an option at random. These are the factors that drive the recommendation, and they’re what you should check your plan against.

The state of the neighbouring teeth. If the teeth either side of the gap already have big fillings or crowns, a conventional bridge makes more sense, because those teeth would benefit from a crown anyway. If they’re untouched, crowning them purely to hold a bridge is a real cost, and implants become more attractive.

Bone volume. Bone shrinks after a tooth is lost, quickest in the first year. A gap that’s been there five years may not have enough width or height for an implant without grafting. That’s why a CBCT scan comes before an implant quote is finalised, and why a quote with “bone graft TBC” can climb.

Gum disease. Active periodontitis is a common reason to delay implants. An implant can lose its bone attachment in much the same way a tooth does (this is called peri-implantitis). A sensible plan treats the gums first.

Smoking and diabetes. Both raise implant failure rates. Many dentists will still place implants for smokers, but they should say plainly that the risk is higher. Poorly controlled diabetes (high HbA1c) is a bigger concern.

Number and position of missing teeth. One gap with healthy teeth either side: all three options work. Several gaps scattered around the arch: a single chrome partial denture often beats three separate bridges or implants on cost. The last tooth at the back of the row missing: a conventional bridge needs a tooth on both sides, so it’s often not possible.

Front versus back. Front teeth bring appearance into it, so a gum line that’s receding or a thin bone wall can make an implant look worse than a well-made bridge. At the back, chewing force is high, which is hard on resin-bonded bridges.

Reading your treatment plan before you open ChatGPT

AI tools are much more useful when you give them a properly itemised plan. Before pasting anything in, work out three things.

Which tooth. UK dentists use two numbering systems. Palmer notation writes the lower left first molar as “LL6” (or with a bracket symbol and a 6). FDI notation, more common on software printouts, calls the same tooth “36”. The first digit is the quarter of the mouth (1 upper right, 2 upper left, 3 lower left, 4 lower right) and the second is the position counting back from the middle. American sources use a third system where that tooth is “#19”. If an AI answer starts talking about tooth #19, it’s thinking in American terms.

What’s bundled. A private implant quote might give one figure or split it into scan, surgery, implant, abutment, crown and reviews. Ask the practice to itemise it if it doesn’t. You can’t compare “£2,950 all-in” with “£1,800 implant” otherwise.

What’s conditional. Look for “if required”, “TBC” or “subject to assessment”. Bone grafts, sinus lifts, extractions and temporary teeth often hide here.

Then redact. Take out your name, date of birth, address, NHS number and the practice’s patient ID before you upload or paste anything. None of them help the AI, and you have no say over how a consumer chatbot stores what you send it.

Using AI to check the plan: prompts that work

ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Microsoft Copilot can all read a pasted plan or an uploaded PDF. Their free tiers are fine for this. What matters is giving them enough context and telling them what you want back.

A good first prompt sets location, funding route and the decision you’re trying to make:

I'm in England and I've been given a private dental treatment plan.
I have no clinical background. Please:
1. Explain each line item in plain English.
2. Tell me which items are typical for this treatment and which are optional
   or unusual.
3. Compare each price to typical UK private prices in 2026, and say clearly
   if you're unsure about current prices.
4. List the alternatives (implant, bridge, denture) for this gap and what the
   NHS Band 3 option would usually be.
5. Give me 8 questions to ask the dentist before I agree.

Use FDI tooth numbering. Do not use US prices, US insurance codes or US
tooth numbering.

Plan:
[paste redacted plan here]

Follow up with a prompt that makes the model argue against the recommendation. This is where these tools earn their keep, because their first answer usually just agrees with whatever document you hand them:

Now argue the case against the dentist's recommendation. What would a
cautious second-opinion dentist say about this plan? Under what clinical
circumstances would a bridge or denture be the better choice for this
specific tooth?

If you’re on the NHS and have been offered a private upgrade, try this:

My NHS dentist has offered me a private implant for tooth 36 at £2,700,
or an NHS option under Band 3. What NHS options could realistically be
offered for a single missing lower first molar with healthy teeth on both
sides, and what are the trade-offs of each compared to the implant?

Keep each chat to one plan. If you start comparing two practices’ quotes, open a new conversation and paste both together so the model has a clean side-by-side view.

Worked example: a £4,250 quote for a missing lower molar

Here’s a realistic private quote for a lower left first molar (36) that was extracted eight months ago:

Treatment plan: UL/LL implant restoration

CBCT scan and implant consultation              £250
Implant placement, 36 (Straumann BLX)         £1,950
Guided bone regeneration, 36 (Bio-Oss + membrane)  £650
Healing review x2                          Included
Custom abutment, 36                            £450
Zirconia crown on implant, 36                  £950
                                              ------
Total                                         £4,250

A careful AI answer, if the prompts above are used, should pick out these points. Check that yours does:

1. The implant, abutment and crown add up to £3,350. That’s at the top of the usual £2,000 to £3,000 range for a single implant with crown outside London. Not outrageous, but enough to justify asking a second practice.
2. Straumann is a premium brand. Practices using mid-range systems (Neodent, Osstem, MegaGen) often charge £300 to £600 less. A premium brand isn’t wrong to choose, but you should know you’re paying for it.
3. The £650 bone graft is the line to question. Eight months after extraction, some bone loss is likely, but the CBCT should show it. Ask: “What width of bone did the scan show, and what width do you need?”
4. Nothing on the plan covers what happens if the implant fails to integrate. Many practices replace a failed implant free within a set period (often 1 to 5 years), on the condition that you attend hygiene appointments. Get it in writing.
5. No temporary tooth is listed. For a back molar that’s normally fine; for a front tooth you’d want to know.

Alternatives for the same tooth, using the earlier price ranges: a conventional bridge from 35 to 37 at around £1,800 privately (or £326.70 on the NHS if your dentist offers it), or a chrome partial denture at around £1,100. Whether the bridge makes sense depends almost entirely on 35 and 37. If they’re both large-filled, the bridge is a strong contender. If they’re untouched, crowning two healthy teeth to save £1,000 or so is a bad trade for most people under 60. The implant versus bridge comparison goes into that decision in more detail.

Where AI tools get dental advice wrong

These tools are good at explaining terms and spotting missing items. They’re unreliable in some predictable ways.

American defaults. Ask a general question and you’ll often get dollar prices, insurance jargon (“CDT code D6010”, “PPO coverage”) and Universal tooth numbers. Saying “UK, England, NHS” in the first line fixes most of this.

Out-of-date NHS figures. Models are trained on data that’s months or years old. The Band 3 charge changes most Aprils. Check any NHS figure against nhs.uk.

Overconfident clinical judgement. A chatbot can’t examine you, and it can’t read your CBCT scan or periapical X-ray reliably even if you upload an image. When an answer says “you definitely don’t need a bone graft”, ignore it. What it can do is tell you what to ask about the graft.

A bias towards implants. Much of the consumer writing online comes from implant clinics, and models absorb that. If the answer says implants are “always” or “the gold standard” with no conditions, push back with the “argue against” prompt.

Price ranges that are too wide to be useful. “£1,500 to £6,000” tells you nothing. Ask for a range for your region and specific line items, and tell it to state its uncertainty.

Questions to take back to the dentist

Bring these to your next appointment or put them in an email. A good practice will answer them without fuss.

• Why do you recommend this option over the other two for my mouth in particular?
• What did the X-ray or scan show about the bone and the neighbouring teeth?
• If I chose a bridge, what condition are the supporting teeth in, and how much would need removing?
• Is the bone graft certain, or will you decide during surgery? What’s the most this could cost?
• Which implant system do you use, and is it widely supported if I move practice?
• What’s your warranty if the implant or bridge fails, and what conditions apply?
• How many of these procedures do you do a year?
• What will maintenance cost me each year?
• For NHS patients: what would the NHS alternative be, and why are you recommending the private one?

Also check the dentist on the General Dental Council register (gdc-uk.org). Anyone describing themselves as a “specialist” in oral surgery, periodontics or prosthodontics should be on the GDC specialist list for that area. Many excellent implant dentists are general dentists with postgraduate training; what matters is they don’t claim a specialist title they don’t hold.

When to get a second opinion, and what it costs

A second opinion is worth paying for when the plan is over about £3,000, when it includes grafting or a sinus lift, when you’re being advised to extract a tooth you thought could be saved, or when the AI’s “argue against” answer raised something the dentist didn’t mention.

A private consultation for a second opinion usually costs £50 to £150. Some implant practices offer a free first consultation, but those are partly sales appointments, so bear that in mind. Take your existing X-rays and CBCT scan with you; you’re entitled to copies under UK GDPR, and practices typically hand them over free within a month of you asking. Having the scan avoids paying £250 for another one and lets the second dentist assess the same images.

If you go into the second appointment with your original plan, the AI’s list of questions and your scan on a USB stick, you’ll get a much more useful 30 minutes. And if both dentists recommend the same thing for the same reasons, you can go ahead with far more confidence than the first quote gave you.