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£60m loans fund dental treatment

12:49pm Monday 6th July 2009

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Britons have taken out personal loans worth an estimated £60.2 million to fund private dental treatment, it has been revealed.

An analysis showed that around 6,900 loans have been taken out to fund or partially fund dental surgery in the UK since the beginning of 2007.

Of these, some 2,450 were solely for dental treatment.

The average size of a personal loan used entirely for dental treatment is £6,492, according to the breakdown from Sainsbury's Finance.

This is roughly the cost of two dental implants, two dental crowns and teeth whitening treatment, it said.

Sainsbury's estimated the figure based on its market share and the value of loans for dental treatment in the market as a whole.

It estimated that, in 2007, £3.3 million worth of loans were taken to wholly fund dental treatment, increasing to £9.4 million in 2008.

In the first three months of this year, an estimated £3.2 million worth of loans were taken out for dental treatment.

Steven Baillie, head of loans at Sainsbury's said: "Some dental treatments can cost a lot more than many people have in readily available funds, which is why loans have for some time been a popular way to finance treatments and spread the cost."

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