That 1.5 – 2k doesnt all go in the dentist pocket you know!
My sisters bf is a dentist i had a similar conversation with her a few months ago. His implant course cost him 10k, then about 30 days off work on the course so thats maybe 6-7k lost income, then she says it costs the dentist about 5k to buy the equipment for the surgery for implants, then they have to pay a lab to make the implant things and the cap or bridge which can be over £500.
So this cost and the training costs, and equipment etc all have to be recovered Then theres busines overheads, staff wages, they pay extra insurance costs if they do implants, and theres general material costs as well like the impression stuff, filling stuff, all the disposable eqipment which is thrown away after each patient to prevent cross infection.
Thats partly why medical / dental costs are so high! People just dont tend to realise so much cos they are used to the government paying for it all in hospitals etc. But yes there is ££ profit in them, just not as high as people think. I respect my sisters bf, and my own dentist (NHS), they do 5 years really hard work at uni. People say you never see a poor dentist, but then again, you dont see poor hospital surgeons, or GP's (most of whom earn more than NHS dentists) Its just you dont pay them direct so it doesnt seem to annoy people as much!
And if that implant thing lasts you 10-15 years as well then its not really that expensive is it, no worse than mountain biking, or my gf spending £40 quid on her hair every couple of months 😀