Advice please! DH needs his wisdom tooth out - can't afford our dentists price :(

Agree with this DS was referred by his (NHS) dentist to the hospital because of that and the hospital still didn't want to do it, despite him having trouble for years. In the end his regular dentist did do it, but warned about the possibility of nerve damage in his face. He did an excellent job. Unfortunately the empty pocket got an infection but that was treated with antibiotics by an emergency NHS dentist on a weekend, he had to travel 40 miles to get there though.

The cost is shocking now isn't it! We have no NHS dentists in the area taking on new people, the one we were at closed the next one was shockingly bad so had to go private. Its just cost me £300 to get 3 kids a check up!

I’ve had three of my wisdom teeth out at the dentists. Only need to go to hospital if it’s a complex extraction, such as needing general anesthetic or if they’re too close to your facial nerves

That's rubbish. They're supervised and have more tine to spend on you than you'd get in a normal appointment.

Also we usually get the patient to call nearby dentists if they haven't. However, we don't know whether they can actually see the patient or not. It would be useful if your tried contacting all the dentists and then if 111 say to call these dentists you can say you've already tried them and they can't see you. You want to be referred to a dental emergency helpline or clinical assessment service. Either they will call you or you will have to call the emergency helpline.

My DD's private practice referred her to a NHS hospital for this type of work.

However, the first dentist she saw, same practice, wanted to charge her £600 all in, she saw a 2nd dentist a few months later and he said he can refer her to the NHS, which he did, was about a 2 week wait.

But its a post code lottery, our trust out sources dental work to a local dental school, not all will have one.

How we got here?

We voted for it, time and time again.

@Laiste
As a temporary fix I would recommend brushing with chlorhexidine mouthwash, then sort of gargling with the stuff - trying to swill it around the problem tooth for a good minute. It's what my dentist recommended years ago when I had problems and I've been able to avoid antibiotics and extraction by doing this twice a day at the first sign of infection.

It does taste disgusting, mind. I think the mint flavour is worse than the unflavoured.

As a 111 health advisor there aren't many dental services 111 can refer a patient to. Ideally he needs to be referred to a dental emergency helpline. If they said to call bupa I don't think that's an emergency dentist. I would call again and see if the health advisor can refer you to another service. We can't book dental appts but usually the dental emergency line will have a dental nurse who can then book an appt if necessary.

Call a dentist and ask the emergency dentist number, they should beable to help and extract

It won’t let me load the screen shot. There is an emergency dental centre in Oxford …. East Oxford Health Centre , Manzil Way Oxford . OX4 1XD
no telephone number so I assume you will need to go through 111.

That’s great news!

I was referred from a £27 NHS check up to have my wisdom tooth extracted at an emergency NHS dentist. The appointment came through about a month later. When I went there was no charge, I was amazed. I think the referral costs are included within the price bracket of the original dentist

Found this . Can’t link it to my post so it’s a screen short . Call 111 again and ask how to get an appointment?

You don't need to see a dental hospital, just your local Oral Surgery unit

Get the dentist to refer you onto your local oral surgery/maxillofacial department or your local NHS oral surgery provider once they've managed the acute problem

It doesn't have to be a dental hospital, most hospitals have oral surgery department for wisdom teeth and there will be specialist oral surgeons in practice providing NHS wisdom teeth extractions . It'll be a long wait for GA but it's usually only a few months for local, sometimes quicker.

Just in case you still need options OP, you can get antibiotics prescribed online for about £30-40. You have to upload a photo and they check it, and the antibiotics arrive the next day.

I had an infected wisdom tooth last year that I couldn’t afford to get treated. I had two sets of antibiotics over six months while I saved up.

Hope it gets sorted, dental pain is awful.

nhs is still chargeable though the extraction will cost a couple of hundred at least

No advice here just massive sympathy. Give him a hug from me x

Try the London ones even if they are further as there are several of them. DH had a wisdom tooth extracted at Kings for free within a week of being referred to them.

Well done @Mammamia16373 and have you considered setting up a Find An NHS dentist concierge service? 😉

Crikey, what a nightmare. I was private for mine and they referred me to NHS straight away (a few years ago now) but still. It’s shocking treatment. I hope you get sorted, there is nothing worse than tooth ache. Mine were compacted and I had gotten an infection and used to suffer with jaw ache and the relief after recovery was great - I hope the same can be said for you. Good luck

Ah brilliant @Laiste I'm sure that's such a relief!

I do think dental insurance is important as we get older because tooth problems become more likely and unless you're an NHS patient costs really do rack up.

Why have you not got a referral for the nHs - they normally do wisdom teeth in hospital not at the dentist…