[dazc]

I spend £27 GBP a month and that is considered to be expensive by some people who pay as little as £7.

For this I get 4 cleans/checkups a year and a zealous hygiene regime. I also get some insurance for accidental trauma too.

Sure, if you do need major work it's going to be expensive but the emphasis is very much aimed at preventing this. In the past 15 years or so I have had minimal work done.

Relying on an NHS practice is, as indicated in other replies, a bit of a lottery and you'll be hard pressed to get decent treatment for something serious. Partly because some dentists are not qualified to do stuff like root canal and partly because of funding restrictions - they just don't want that kind of work.

Having said that, things have improved since my childhood when NHS dentists were payed per filling. You can imagine how that worked out in many case.