AIBU to complain after NHS dentist did filling for my 16 year-old?

@Naunet Every teenager is different and some take a little longer to mature. My DS is nearly 18 now and far more mature than he was a year ago, he's getting there. DD (21) goes to all her appointments alone.

I was living alone and paying rent and bills at 16! Stop babying him, you're not helping to prepare him for life.

@EvieBB I agree that you can't preempt every situation and that's why, if you're not confident that your teenager is ready to make decisions about treatment, you accompany them to the appointment. I went to the dentist with my DS (17) over the summer for that reason.

You cannot preempt ever single situation they are going to be in and prepare them for every single eventuality/conversation. That isn't reasonable or possible. I can still be highly highly pissed off that a dentist went ahead and gave my under 18 child a mercury filling. I'd be effing fuming!

Of course it's free for a 16 year old.and it's his teeth so it's up to him to say if he doesn't want it. If he's unable to do this then may e he should be accompanied ( or taught to say something)

I mean 18!

Is it free? Even so, I'd be annoyed if the dentist went ahead giving a mercury filling to any child of mine under the age of 16 😡

Why would parent be paying for free treatment?

I'm sorry to hear that....everything has become so expensive and it's a hideous situation for many......but that still doens't mean that it was right to pressurise a mere 16 yr old in to having treatment that their parent was paying for if parent was not happy with a silver filling. I personally think it's out of order for the dentist to have done this

No, your dentist will give you the option to pay for one though. I had one and it was about £100. Well worth it IMO. I hate the look of the silver ones.

Do the NHS even do white fillings?

I'm pretty sure it's free for the 16 year old so no the parent wouldn't be paying

And 16 is definitely the age that you can give consent for medical treatment

I agree. The only problem with getting it replaced is that that process can release even more mercury in to the body. A safer bet is using a biological dentist to perform this.....but that of course costs ££££
I would be incredibly annoyed with the original dentist! I don't think a child (under the age of 18) should have been given this procedure without first suggesting the child have conversation with their parent - who will no doubt be paying for it in the first place!!

Asking AI to write her a complaint letter

Where is OP

This thread descended into stupidity pages ago and just goes on getting worse🙄

I am taken aback than amalgam is still used in the UK! I thought it was phased out ages ago.

I would be upset for that reason, even if it concerned my own teeth. You can however go private to have the filling replaced with a composite.

Whether or not it's valid consent depends on what the dentist said and how he behaved, not what the son felt or says he felt. Else no health care professional could ever know whether somebody has really given consent for anything. If the dentist was perfectly reasonable in giving the recommendation but the son felt pressured anyway for whatever reason then that's on the son - at some point he'll have to learn to know his own mind. I find it difficult to believe that an NHS dentist is going to be so bothered about doing a filling that their behaviour crosses the line from pressure to outright coercion, but then I haven't experienced these dodgy dentists that apparently plague the UK.

And anyway it's just a sodding filling - he hasn't come back looking like Flavor Flav so it's a load of fuss over nothing IMO.

Bear in mind, the son's probably trying to shift his mother's focus to the dentist. She's fuming he had the filling, he's going to say 'I couldn't say no!' when the starts flipping her lid.

The pressure still happens though

Yes, good questions. If you have capacity you can decline to attend hospital or to have your obs done on a ward. A conversation with the paramedic/HCA/nurse in which they explain the risks and benefits of going to hospital vs staying at home, or having obs done vs not is entirely appropriate and part of the consent process. You have a right to say no, even if it seems a bonkers decision to everyone else. The intensity of these conversations I’m sure will be determined by the risks - if paramedic thinks you’ve had a heart attack then I’m sure they’ll lay it on thick, if your getting better in a ward then declining obs at two in the morning is probably readily accepted. But medicine is fraught with ethical dilemmas.

Hmm so how does that explain all the ambulance people pressuring people to go to hospital to be " checked out". Or the pressure put on patients in a ward to have obs taken etc

He felt pressure to consent. That’s not valid consent. The responsibility lies squarely with the professional to ensure someone is able to give informed consent.

If you feel pressured into doing something that is not freely given informed consent. This is basic stuff for a healthcare professional.

DS consented.

You know if you go to the dentist, gp, A&E etc you might get a procedure done.

You will be asked to give consent.

If you can’t give consent, then you don’t go alone.

I don’t think you understand how informed consent works. What you’re describing is implied consent. A good example is you book a blood test appointment so you should expect to have a blood test and not expect the phlebotomist to explicitly take consent. You book a routine dental check up so the dentist doesn’t explicitly consent you to look in your mouth and examine your teeth. However, an invasive procedure not usually included in a routine check up and requiring another appointment needs informed consent. It is absolutely the job of the professional to ensure the patient is able to give informed consent, this goes for every patient be they 16, 30 or 99. If the lad felt pressured then he has not willingly consented and that is an issue.

Edited for typo.