Dental hygienist doing fillings - normal or no?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

Not looking to question anyone's competence, just really not sure about this!

So during my last pregnancy, I developed two large cavities (thanks, babies). Never had much trouble with teeth before. Had two big fillings and was told I might have to have a root canal in future as the fillings were near the nerve.

They feel fine but at my check up today, the dentist said they had partially worked loose and would need redoing. Fine.

Only, the receptionist has booked me in with a "dental hygienist and therapist" as "the dentists are too busy to do simple fillings".

Possibly my ignorance but I have never heard of someone who was not a qualified dentist doing fillings? I am an NHS patient in a BUPA practice if that makes a difference.

Hmm not sure! The hygienist did a composite bonding for me - to add I didn't even feel the injections and it's perfect, I would happily choose her again

The hygienist at my dentist does the fillings too. I’ve not had one from her but she’s very highly recommended.

My concern would be that it doesn’t sound like it is a simple filling if they are talking about it being near the nerve?

I have a friend who is a dental therapist and is trained to do fillings. She can't diagnose but can fill teeth as directed by the dentist. Hope that reassures you.

Perfectly fine. Dental Therapy is an separate qualification (they will usually be qualified as a Hygienist too). They will be trained at a dental school to complete many dental procedures including most types of fillings. A lot of practices now have Dental Therapists performing some of the more routine tasks freeing up the Dentists to complete more specialist work.

A dental therapist is trained to provide certain procedures under the prescription of a dentist. So as long as the dentist has diagnosed the problem, and the treatment is within the therapist’s capabilities, then it’s fine. If the therapist finds anything they are not able to do, (cavity larger than expected for example) they will refer you back to the dentist.

Therapists are trained to do fillings and all hygienist work. Most of them do mostly hygienist work as it's relatively new but it's changing as dentists are seeing the benefits.

Hmm okay, less dodgy than I thought!

Yes my concern is also that it is near the nerve and she might do a patch up job that doesn't stand up long term. I really don't want to lose these teeth.

But tbh I cannot afford to go private right now so looks like I don't have much choice!

This is a new thing I have learned thanks Mumsnet.

I work with a dental therapist (I’m a dentist) and she’s excellent. Her work is always to a very good standard as she can spend more time with each patient than dentists can as we are under such tight time pressures in the NHS.

She's not a hygienist she's a dental therapist. Less qualified then a dentist, more qualified than a hygienist. They do simple fillings, children extractions, it's the simple stuff that would take a while to get seen by the dentist as they're so busy. The dentist will do a treatment plan and the therapist just follows whatever treatment is needed. The practice need to re word that because it does sound very confusing if you don't know

I am an early retired dentist and a dental therapist can do everything a hygienist does plus
extractions of baby teeth, fillings, xrays,
they do not do extractions of adult teeth, root treatments, crowns bridges, implants, orthodontics, fitting dentures though they may take the initial impressions
They work on the prescription of the dentist so if anything looks more complicated or there has been a change since the last visit they refer back again but a dentist does not need to be on the premises while a therapist works, so if the dentist is off on Wednesday afternoon or is sick the therapist can carry on seeing patients

I think hygienists will be phased out and the therapist will become the next step

it does free up dentists time to do more complicated stuff, just like getting nurses to do blood tests frees up doctors time, just like most dentists stopped doing scaling and referred to hygienist so I think gradually far fewer fillings will be done by dentists and there are now courses so dental nurses can do oral health instruction and take xrays and impressions when asked

this is the way the NHS is going it is not really a bad thing to delegate
it has been going on for decades consultant surgeon does operation watched by Junior doctor who is then left to suture everything back together
but to the lay person the terms can be a bit confusing

it is a bit like a nurse practitioner does more than a nurse but less than a doctor

I'm a Dental Therapist and it's really lovely to hear such positive comments and accurate descriptions of my job, no one ever knows what I do! If you're worried about having the treatment carried out by a Therapist please chat to your dentist about it but I'm sure they wouldn't refer you unless they felt the treatment was suitable for a Therapist to do, good luck with your fillings!

milk teacup only

Thanks a lot! May I ask, one of the hygienists + therapists listed on the website has a BSc, the other only a Diploma..... does that make a difference?

They're just the two types of qualification to be a Therapist, the diploma or degree, they're the same really.