Why are tooth crowns so expensive?

Question

My dentist told me years ago that it was because it's made of porcelain. My toilet is made of porcelain - it costs a lot less than a small tooth. Why are they so expensive?

Answer 1

Simple, so the dentist and NHS can make easy money knowing full well that its something people will buy for cosmetic reasons. I have a friend who actually makes them and they only cost about £10 to make including labour so when we have to pay £150 upwards you can see how much money they make!

Answer 2

Not just porcelain, but the latest high-tech everything. It costs a great deal of money to set up a dental practice; just look at what that doctor has had to pay for. All that equipment, and the staff and the bookkeeping, etc. Plus people tend to treat dentists down there with lawyers as people you pay "when you can." So every time a dentist writes a bill for any task, it's including all that "overhead." And so naturally he charges by the hour (and tenth thereof, probably). Since crown work is time-consuming, it is necessarily expensive. Especially if you want them to look absolutely natural and never give you the slightest trouble.

Answer 3

I know someone that works in the lab that makes crowns and they only charge $35 for a crown. The dentist wants $1040 out of my pocket with insurance paying half. I have other work that needs to be done also. I'm paying the $1500 it cost for a round trip ticket to the Philippines and I will still save a couple thousand dollars. Cost in Mexico might be about the same, don't know; but I have family to stay with in the Philippines.

Answer 4

It's not the value of the porcelain or the gold. It's the care, skill and judgement required to get it all into a shape where it can fit on your tooth properly.

Anyone's butt will fit on your toilet. Your crown will fit your tooth and only your tooth. It won't even fit another tooth in your mouth.

Answer 5

The answer to your question is simple. Someone who makes your toilet doesn't have to go to 8 - 12 years of college and incur a student loan debt of $300,000 while not earning a nickle while going to school during those years. In other words it doesn't take a college education to construct a toilet.

You are therefore paying not only for that doctor's education, but also his office, office equipment, office staff's salary, office supplies, office insurance, telephone bill, electric bill, accountant's bill, continuing education requirements, property taxes, FICA taxes, workman's compensation insurance, unemployment taxes, janitorial expenses, dental laboratory expenses, water bill, gas bill, state dental license expense, drug enforcement agency license, employees medical insurance, employees retirement benefits..............Do I need to go on?????????????????? And if anything is left over after paying all of these bills, then that is what the dentist's profit is for constructing your porcelain crown.

DMD

Answer 6

Its because the dentist has to pay the lab for making the crown, so if a dentist charged you say £100.00 for a crown the lab would charge the dentist £50.00 for making it, so the dentist only makes £50.00. So instead the dentist charges you £400.00 and makes £350.00. That's why alot for dentists only make them privately because its not worth their while doing it on the cheap. Also if you pay alot for a crown most dentists will put a guarantee on it for maybe 2/3 years, you get better material and better shade matches if you pay private. I know its expensive, i would never be able to afford one if i needed to.

Answer 7

they are expensive due to they are tailor made .. they are called crown cause they fit in ur oral cavity only and and u r the owner....jokes apart .....they are expensive as they are recovered from an extensive work ..which can cost u a tooth if not done properly ....cutting of the tooth along with the crown precisely fitting u without irritating your gums counts for paying rather than comparing it to a toilet seat which is not made for wholly and Solly ......

Answer 8

not all crowns are made of porcelain, you can get different types. the types of crown then determines the price. porecelain are the most expensive. i'd shop around before going ahead.

Answer 9

It takes a far less qualified person to fit a toilet than a tooth.

Answer 10

Why is dentistry work so very expensive anyway..when you can get it, the same could be said about spectacles, I know from a very good source that designer specs cost about 50p to make........so why do we pay £100 or thereabouts? Rip off merchants, robbers.