The straight answer: a private dental check-up in the UK runs somewhere between £40 and £120, with most practices landing in the £50 to £80 range. At Dentozen, a new patient examination costs £65.
That's probably what you came here to find out. But if you're weighing up whether a check-up is worth booking, or you've been quoted something that seems high and want to understand why, or it's been a while and you're not quite sure what you're walking into - there's more here that might be useful.
What You're Actually Paying For
A dental check-up sounds simple, and in some ways it is. Someone looks at your teeth and tells you if anything's wrong. But what's actually happening during those fifteen to thirty minutes is more comprehensive than it might appear.
The soft tissue examination comes first. Before looking at a single tooth, your dentist checks your tongue, the floor of your mouth, your cheeks, palate, and throat. They're looking for anything unusual - lumps, sores, patches of discolouration. This is oral cancer screening, and it happens quietly and quickly enough that you might not even register it as a separate thing. But it matters. Oral cancers caught early have vastly better outcomes than those caught late, and dentists spot things that patients miss.
Then the tooth-by-tooth assessment. Every tooth gets examined for decay, cracks, chips, wear, and the condition of any existing work. That filling you got eight years ago - is it still sealed properly or are the edges starting to break down? The tooth that's been a bit sensitive lately - is there visible cause? Your dentist is building a complete picture of what's happening in your mouth right now and what might need attention soon.
Gum health gets evaluated too. Gum disease is remarkably common and remarkably sneaky. It develops gradually, often without pain, and by the time people notice something's wrong, significant damage may have occurred. Your dentist or hygienist checks for inflammation, bleeding, recession, and pocketing - gaps developing between teeth and gums where bacteria accumulate. Catching gum disease early makes it far easier to manage.
Your bite tells a story. How your teeth come together reveals patterns of wear, potential grinding habits, and jaw issues that might be developing. Teeth wearing unevenly, cracks appearing in particular locations, jaw pain or clicking - these connect to how your bite functions, and a check-up is when these patterns become visible.
Then there's the conversation. What's been bothering you? What are you hoping to achieve? Any changes since last time? A good check-up isn't just diagnostic - it's a chance to ask questions and understand what's happening in your own mouth.
All of that rolls into what seems like a simple "check-up." The fee covers the dentist's time, their expertise in knowing what they're looking at, and the peace of mind that comes from professional assessment.
The X-Ray Question
Here's where pricing gets a bit less straightforward, because practices handle X-rays differently.
Some include necessary X-rays in the check-up fee. Others charge £10 to £20 per X-ray on top. The total cost of your appointment can vary by £30 or more depending on this policy, so it's worth asking when you book.
At Dentozen, digital X-rays are £12 each when needed.
The question of when X-rays are "needed" has some nuance. New patients typically require X-rays because the dentist has no baseline to work from. They can't see between your teeth or beneath existing fillings with their eyes alone. X-rays reveal decay hiding in places visual examination can't reach, show what's happening at the roots, and provide a record to compare against in future.
For established patients with stable oral health, X-rays might only be needed every two to three years unless something specific warrants investigation. Patients with active decay or gum disease typically need more frequent imaging to monitor what's happening.
The point is that X-rays aren't an upsell - they're a genuine diagnostic tool that finds problems invisible to the naked eye. But how they're priced varies, and that affects what your check-up actually costs.
Why Some Check-ups Cost Twice as Much as Others
The spread from £40 to £120 is wide enough to warrant explanation. Several factors push prices toward one end or the other.
Location is the obvious one. London practices charge more than those in smaller cities, sometimes 30 to 50 percent more for equivalent services. Operating costs are higher - rent, staff wages, everything. But the picture is more complicated than just "London expensive, everywhere else cheap."
Edinburgh consistently ranks among the UK's most expensive cities for dental care, often exceeding London on specific treatments. The commuter belt around London - Surrey, Hertfordshire, parts of Kent - frequently matches central London pricing. Meanwhile, Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, and Newcastle typically offer the best value for equivalent quality of care.
North London falls somewhere in the middle of all this. Not budget, but not paying Mayfair premiums either.
What's included shifts the real cost. A £60 check-up that includes X-rays and a basic scale and polish represents better value than a £65 check-up where X-rays cost £15 each and cleaning is £75 extra. Looking at the headline check-up fee alone can be misleading.
Appointment length varies. Some practices allocate fifteen minutes for a check-up. Others allow thirty. Longer appointments mean more thorough examination and more time for questions, but they also mean the dentist sees fewer patients per hour, which gets reflected in pricing.
Dentist experience and credentials matter to some people. A newly qualified dentist building their patient base might charge less than an established practitioner with decades of experience or specialist qualifications. Whether that premium is worth paying depends on what you're looking for. For a routine check-up in a healthy mouth, the less experienced dentist is likely fine. For complex situations or specific concerns, experience may matter more.
Practice positioning is a real thing. Some practices deliberately cultivate a premium feel - beautiful premises, longer appointments, higher prices. Others compete on accessibility and value. The clinical quality doesn't always correlate with the price point in the way you might assume.
How Often You Actually Need to Go
The traditional answer is "every six months," but that's a guideline rather than a law of nature.
The point of regular check-ups is catching problems early when they're small, easy to treat, and cheap to fix. A tiny cavity spotted at a check-up costs £175 to fill. That same cavity left for two years might need a crown or root canal costing ten times as much. Prevention and early detection genuinely save money over time.
But the right interval varies by individual. Someone with excellent oral health, no history of gum disease, and low cavity risk might reasonably stretch to annual check-ups without taking on significant risk. Someone with active gum disease, a history of decay, diabetes, or other risk factors benefits from more frequent monitoring - every three to six months in some cases.
Your dentist will recommend an interval based on your specific situation. That recommendation is based on what they've seen in your mouth, not on a desire to book more appointments.
For what it's worth, the research suggests that for low-risk adults, annual check-ups are probably sufficient. For higher-risk patients, more frequent visits catch problems that would otherwise develop between appointments. The six-month standard is a reasonable middle ground that works for most people.
Check-ups vs Emergency Appointments
If you're in pain right now - a toothache keeping you awake, swelling in your face, a broken tooth - that's not a check-up situation. You need an emergency appointment.
Emergency examinations focus on the immediate problem rather than comprehensive assessment. The dentist will diagnose what's causing your pain, discuss treatment options, and address the urgent issue. X-rays of the affected area are typically included. The rest of your mouth waits for another day.
Emergency appointment pricing varies wildly across practices. Some charge premium rates for urgent slots, particularly for new patients. Others, like Dentozen, charge the same £65 for an emergency examination as for a routine new patient check-up.
If you've been putting off a check-up and something starts hurting, that's a common but unfortunate pattern. The check-up would have been cheaper and less painful than the emergency that eventually forced action. But there's no point dwelling on that once you're in pain - just get seen.
What Happens If They Find Something
A check-up is purely diagnostic. Your dentist looks, assesses, and reports. If everything's healthy, brilliant - see you in six to twelve months. If there are issues, you'll receive a treatment plan outlining what's been found, what options exist for addressing it, and what each option costs.
You're never obligated to proceed with treatment at the same practice where you had your check-up. If you want a second opinion, want to compare costs elsewhere, or simply need time to think and save, that's entirely normal and no reasonable practice will pressure you otherwise.
Common findings and rough costs to give you an idea of what might follow a check-up:
Small cavities typically mean fillings, running £100 to £300 depending on size. Early gum disease usually calls for professional cleaning, around £75 to £150 for a standard hygiene appointment or more for deeper cleaning. Worn or failing old fillings might need replacement, or in some cases crowns, ranging from £500 to £1,200. Wisdom tooth problems could mean extraction, typically £200 to £400.
Having a treatment plan doesn't mean everything needs doing immediately. Your dentist will help you prioritise - what's urgent, what's important but not pressing, what can wait and be monitored. Dental care is often a journey of addressing things progressively rather than fixing everything at once.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Avoiding Check-ups
Nobody particularly enjoys going to the dentist. Even people who don't mind it wouldn't choose it as a recreational activity. So there's a temptation to skip check-ups when nothing seems wrong, to save the money and the time and the mild unpleasantness of having someone poke around in your mouth.
The trouble is that dental problems are sneaky. Decay develops silently. Gum disease progresses without pain until it's advanced. A crack in a tooth doesn't announce itself until it becomes a break. By the time you notice something's wrong, the problem is larger and more expensive than it would have been if caught at a check-up months or years earlier.
The £65 to £80 check-up isn't really a cost - it's insurance against much larger costs down the line. It's the difference between a filling now and a crown later, between managing gum disease and losing teeth to it, between catching the unusual patch early and catching it late.
Nobody can make you go to the dentist. But understanding that check-ups genuinely save money over time, even when they feel like spending money in the moment, might make booking that appointment a bit easier.
Getting Started
If you're not currently registered with a dentist and need a check-up, most private practices can see new patients within a week or two. You don't need to transfer records or go through any formal process - just book an appointment.
If it's been a long time since your last visit, it's worth mentioning that when you book. Not because anyone will judge you (dentists have seen everything and judged nothing), but because the practice might allocate extra time for your appointment, knowing there's more ground to cover.
A new patient examination at Dentozen costs £65 and includes a complete assessment of your current dental health plus discussion of any concerns or goals. From there, you'll know exactly what you're working with - which is the whole point.
Whatever you find out, at least you'll know. And knowing is better than wondering, better than worrying, and much better than waiting until something hurts.