Private dentists have been accused of “misleading” pricing by supplying "from" prices, with the listed price being a minimum, rather than a single fixed price.
myTribe insurance looked at 200,000 prices advertised by 8,158 private practices in an investigation with the Mirror newspaper.
Chris Steele, founder of myTribe, said: "A price list is meant to show what you can expect to pay, but 'from' prices can often be misleading. Without a maximum price, how are patients to know what the treatment will actually cost?
“A fair price is one both sides can see before the work starts. A ‘from’ price shows the patient the least they will pay and leaves the most to the practice. That isn’t a fair split for the person footing the bill.”
Dr John Puntis, co-chair of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: "With the collapse of NHS dental provision, suffering patients now find themselves in a wild west populated by cowboy dentists seeking not just to extract teeth but maximum profit.
“This should be another red flag to government that re-establishing dentistry as a part of the NHS and available to all is an absolute priority if it is serious about its promises to prioritise prevention over treatment and restore a badly damaged system of healthcare."