What a dentist costs in Trinidad

Starting prices

"From" means what it says. A root canal on a front tooth with one canal is less work than a molar with four, and each canal is cleaned and sealed individually — so the same treatment honestly has a range rather than a price. You are quoted for your tooth before anything begins.

Is there free dental care in Trinidad?

This is the question people ask most often around cost, so here is a straight answer rather than a sales pitch.

Dental care in Trinidad and Tobago is mostly private and mostly paid out of pocket. There is a public health system run through the Regional Health Authorities, and dental services are provided at some public facilities — but provision, waiting times and what is actually offered vary, and we are not going to describe them second-hand. If that is your route, contact the health authority for your area or your nearest health centre and ask directly what dental services they run and how to be seen.

What is worth knowing is that public provision anywhere tends to concentrate on relieving pain and removing teeth rather than saving them. That is a reasonable use of limited public money and it is also why a filling you can afford today is worth more than an extraction you can afford later.

We are a private practice. We publish our prices so you can decide with the numbers in front of you, and a second opinion here costs nothing if another dentist has quoted you something you are unsure about.

Does NIS or insurance cover the dentist?

NIS does not. The National Insurance system pays cash benefits — sickness, maternity, invalidity, retirement, funeral and so on. It is not a health service and it does not pay a dentist. Anyone telling you otherwise has confused it with private health cover.

Private health insurance often does, and that is a different conversation. Most local group health plans carry some dental benefit, usually paying the highest rate on examinations, x-rays and cleanings and a lower rate on fillings and root canals, with major work limited or subject to a waiting period.

We have been a preferred provider for over 15 years with Guardian Life, Sagicor, Pan-American Life, Cardea and others, and we check your entitlement before treatment rather than after. If you hold a Guardian Life plan with an easiClaim card, you swipe it at reception and see your own out-of-pocket cost before the work starts. How insurance works here, in detail.

A TTARP discount applies on various procedures.

What actually decides the price

Four things, in roughly this order:

• How much of the tooth is left. A small filling and a crown are different jobs on the same tooth six months apart. This is the single biggest lever, and it is the one you control by coming in earlier.
• Which tooth. Back teeth have more roots and more canals than front teeth, so the same named treatment is more work.
• What has to happen first. Active decay or gum disease is treated before crowns, implants or straightening — not during.
• The materials and the laboratory. A crown made to fit your bite in a dental laboratory is not the same product at two prices.

Why implants, crowns, dentures and braces are not on the list above: they vary so much between one mouth and the next that a single figure would mislead rather than help. Publishing "implants from TT$X" when the real number depends on whether you need a bone graft, how many teeth are involved and what goes on top would be a marketing number, not a price. Ask on WhatsApp and you get a range and the reason for it.

How to make it manageable

If money is the reason you have been putting this off, say so rather than staying away. It is a more common conversation than people expect.

• Get examined first. An examination with x-rays is the cheapest appointment in dentistry and the one that tells you the size of the problem. Guessing costs more.
• Larger plans can usually be staged. The urgent part first, the rest when you are ready. Clinical urgency sets the order — an infection does not wait — but within that there is room.
• Use the policy year. If you carry cover with an annual limit, splitting a large plan across a reset can mean two years of benefit instead of one. How the annual maximum works.
• Bring the other quote. Second opinions are free, with no conditions, and we are comfortable saying when work is not needed.

What to prioritise when you are paying for it all yourself.

Before you book anywhere

Worth doing whether or not you come to us. Check the dentist is registered — the Dental Council of Trinidad and Tobago keeps a public register. Dr. Alida D. Jagdeo's number is J06A.

Then ask three questions before agreeing to anything: what does this cost, itemised; does my insurance need pre-authorisation; and what happens if I do nothing. A practice comfortable with those is usually one worth using. More on choosing a dentist in Port of Spain.