Is this email from dentist a bit haven handed?

[Racingadmin]

Just had an email from dentist for dd(17) saying that she is overdue for dental hygienist- not regular nhs dentist appointment** as they are fully up to date

They actually talk about safeguarding and reporting missed appointment to gp . I think it's completely unreasonable to even mention that for a hygienist appointment that isn't part of nhs treatment and costs £65

It is just me ?

We have not received responses to our previous reminders and are writing to remind you that you are now overdue for your Oral Hygiene Visit appointment.
To maintain healthy teeth and gums, we would advise you that regular examinations with your Dentist and Hygienist are very important to prevent dental problems in the future.
Health professionals are required to share information about missed appointments and repeated cancellations for the benefit and safeguarding of children. Other people we may inform of any concerns include the child’s family doctor (GP), school nurse, health visitor and/or the dentist (or other professional) who referred you to us

As a child protection social worker who hasn't eaten lunch for about 3 years and wakes up a 3am worrying about countless dark safeguarding issues and who has to gather hundreds of pages of evidence to justify making court applications I am laughing at the thought of a referral being made for missed appointments with the hygienist.

I think you’re being very mild not telling to fuck off…

You're lucky, I'd give my eye teeth to have a proactive dentist.
Oh no, I've just remembered I can't! They took them out last time as they thought they were a bit on the 'pointy side' (£296)

Hahaha.

We swapped dentists due to a house move and the dentist threatened me with a report to SS because DD had fillings.

I suggested he talk to her GP (she has a relevant medical condition) and go ahead. I would love to have a social worker come and redd me up. I was just in the right mood for it that day.

And we went elsewhere so they lost my private work as well as Dds nhs work.

SW1amp we are fortunate enough that we have been able to use private dentist always and through the pandemic so all of us have been going every 6 m or so to a dentist and hygienist and me more often beginning this year and end of last since I had a wisdom tooth to remove etc issues that have now resolved . My husband has health insurance for us all and a dental plan through work so covers a lot of it .

Wow fucking wow.

That's appalling!

I would absolutely change dental practice

Dickheads

We’ve been able to do routine treatment since June 2020

However this letter does seem a bit ott
Repeated failure to attend dental exams ( but prob not hygienist appointments) could indeed be used as part of a package of evidence in a neglect case.

But in 30 years I’ve never seen it.

Yeah, that’s pretty bad.

Depending on how I was fee I’d either phone them, ask to speak with the safe guarding lead and get them to explain in precise detail what they were concerned about - or Id tell them to go right ahead and report me to social services. I might also be tempted to speak to the GDC or whichever professional body regulates hygienists and ask to see their guidelines on this.

I'm due my second dentist check up since March 2020 lockdown (and they've gone private in the past 6 months), but hygienists seem to have been doing things for a year?

Does your DD have a dentist and somebody else in the room when they do your DD's check ups? If so, what sort of numbers do they shout out?

They are checking for gum disease as well as for cavities. 0's and 1's are good 5's really not.

Simply put
The numbers go from 0-4
0 being all is well.

4 being gum disease and there’s a huge problem

the stages between 1/2/3 are for us to decide what level of treatment is needed
It’s a way that we can identify who is at risk of gum disease

Hi. Dentist here. Agree re comments above. Firstly you need to ascertain whether a hygienist appointment is justified. Especially at the age of 17. My experience is that a lot of teenagers have a build up of plaque/tend to neglect their teeth at times, but don't generally have deep pocketing, periodontal issues, mobility, heavy tartar or staining ( from years of smoking etc) ie concerning issues that warrant a regular hygienist input.

You need to find out what her BPE scores, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 for each part of her mouth. The higher the scores, the more need for a scaling basically.
In my practice we have such a backlog of patients wanting to see a hygienist, partly due to the Covid backlog, especially as we are still observing enhanced Covid hygiene measures/restrictions, such as needing to vacate a room after a procedure to allow fallow time and deep cleaning. Therefore I am trying to reserve my precious hygienist appointments for those with the most serious concerns.

I am Scotland based so might be different where I am, but under 18's ( actually now all adults under 26, new thing) are entitled to free dental treatment. I don't agree that a 17 year old should be exited to pay for a pricey ( arguably unnecessary) private hygienist appointment.

Obviously depends on the condition of her teeth.
The letter is unnecessary, and the safe guarding threat is pathetic. Possibly different if she was younger, solely reliant on a parent to enforce appointments, and if she had say failed to turn up for something essential such as a filling or planned extraction due to tooth decay.

My reply to the practice would be for my worded.

Her teeth are in excellent condition , never had a filling , no gum disease etc . Only ever had orthodontic work done and they apply fluoride paste to the back teeth at every check up . At last checkup dentist said her hygiene was good enough that she only needs annual rather than six monthly check ups

When dcs were younger I used to ask for them to have a scale and polish as I thought it was included in the nhs checkup but somehow there was never enough time in the appointment

The only reason she saw a hygienist was that she had just had fixed braces removed after 2 years and it was recommended to have a full clean up as a one off - which we happily paid for .

I understand that it's a auto generated email and not personal but it's not acceptable to just casually drop slightly threatening language re safeguarding into the email.