Issue with dentist

[Lunaria89]

Hi I would be so grateful if anyone could give me some advice on what to do in this situation please.
A few months ago I had a routine dentist appointment and my dentist told me that I had gum disease and bone loss and that i was at risk of ultimately losing my teeth. I was never aware of any problems with my teeth previously, they are pretty straight, white and I have always been told I have nice teeth. The news for me was completely horrifying and a terrible shock, my dentist advised me to see a specialist periodontist about this. When I left the dentist I was completely inconsolable. I booked and paid for an appointment with the periodontist at a private clinic, the wait time for the appointment was two months as they were fully booked. The effect this news had on my mental health was devastating, I was crying day and night and worrying about this 24/7. I was unable to eat or sleep properly because of the stress. I was mostly worried about not knowing how far it had progressed or which stage it was at and I had a two month wait to find out. Once the appointment finally arrived, I was informed by the periodontist that I did not have gum disease or bone loss (they took an xray) and that there was nothing wrong with my teeth other than them needing a scale and polish.

I was in complete disbelief, although obviously relieved that I didnt have gum disease at all. How can a dentist get this kind of diagnosis wrong and a person is put through all of this terrible worrying and suffering unnecessarily? I have been left badly affected by this and suffered terribly for the two months between receiving this news and going to the specialist appointment.
What I would like to know is what would others do in my situation? Would you put in a formal complaint? If so how do I go about it? I have such bad anxiety over this that I just dont want to face my dentist and I still have not told them that they wrongly diagnosed me.
Sorry for the long post and thank you for any help and for taking the time to read this.

(This has been reposted this as I think I initially posted it last night in the wrong category so I apologize.)

General dental Council

I'm sorry but I have to ask are you absolutely sure you heard the dentist right? Was he or she saying get a cleaning because you don't want to risk bone loss etc rather than go and get it done because you have bone loss? I have been too nervous that I zoned out and left a Dr's office without remembering much and I know I'm not the only patient who experiences this.
Could you ask for a copy of your file with the details of the last visit to that dentist before you make the complaint?

I am absolutely sure, she informed me that I had gum disease and bone loss and she advised me to see a specialist, she gave me the address of the private clinic and I paid for the appointment.

oh fuck. Yeah complain then. You poor thing living in fear for 2 months and then stomping out for an unnecessary expensive appointment.
Hope more knowledgeable posters come on here and comment.

I don't know what planet some dentists are on. I went to see a dentist in my mid 20s who asked me if I was a chocaholic because every tooth had decay in it!

I am now 50 and I have had one new, small, surface filling since then. Any other problems with my teeth have been due to fillings I'd already had needing replacing etc.

Goodness knows what she thought she was doing. Presumably the specialist you saw will write to the referring dentist to update them on your appointment and copy you in, and then you can maybe complain about what you were told. It's difficult to know whether they were negligent or whether they were being overcareful. In the end it's better you checked, but that doesn't negate the stress caused to you!

Op thats awful. Im convinced some are money grabbing Bs as I changed dentist. I said god are they v bad as last dentist listed a load things and grinding. He said no not too bad did agree with grinding. Im start to think its all about the money!!

If private he's probably scaring you into preventative treatment, which may or may not actually happen. Had my exam done the other day and apparently I need several hundred pounds worth of treatment to prevent things rather than what is wrong, yet a different denist before him hadn't picked this up.

Hygienist here.

i think I’d email the practice manager and tell her what you’ve written here.

I was wondering why the dentist said you had gum disease as usually they do a gum score ( every check up) and if the scores are code three or more that indicates gum disease.
First thing to do normally is to see a hygienist who can investigate the gum disease further and talk you through oral hygiene measures - brushing and flossing etc We do something called a pocket chart which is a map of your bone loss, to monitor the situation.

The hygienist might do a ‘deep clean’ in the surgery if necessary although the dentist could do that as well
its not usual procedure to rush into seeing a specialist immediately

I was wondering if the dentist was newly qualified

ultimately it’s a good thing not to have gum disease- that’s a positive thing

@Heatherjayne1972 I cant email the manager as my dentist owns his own practice. What should I do in this circumstance? I know that it is a good thing that I dont have it and I am so relieved but it was just a terrible worry to go through.

Thank you for everyone's replies. I didn't know that there was such a general distrust of dentists but now I sadly feel that way also after my experience.

@Lunaria89 they must have a complaints procedure - it’s a lawful requirement
Id email him anyway

however the specialist will have sent a letter to him detailing what s/he found and what the next steps are - that’s standard . So your dentist will be aware of the situation with your gums

if you’ve lost trust then really the only option is to move to another dentist
either within the practice or a totally new place -

I’m sorry you went through all that anxiousness and worry

I had the exact same scenario! Except my lovely peridontalist agreed that I did have gum disease and bone loss, and I had to go through several painful deep pocket cleans. I have to see the hygienist every 3 months and use those little brushes all the time.

I don't get your level of stress, though. Are you playing that up in order to sue?

@Heatherjayne1972 I was not referred through my dentist, they gave me the details of the private clinic over the phone and when I was at the periodontist appointment they asked if I wanted to give them my dentists details so they could send them the appointment notes and i declined. I never told the periodontist who my dentist was so I didn't think my dentist was aware of the error that they had made. I just haven't been back to my dentist since.

@Heatherjayne1972 Thank you for your help also, I will definitely be putting in a complaint as I never want anyone else to experience this.

I was wondering this as well. Not being able to eat or sleep and being practically traumatised is extremely OTT. Just screams lawsuit.

@SouperNoodle I dont agree that the level of stress and worry I went through was OTT. I went into the dentist with lovely teeth and never having any problems before to be told I was going to lose them. I don't understand how anyone would not be extremely distressed by that. It is genuinely one of the worst experiences I have ever had in my life. Could I please ask you how you would feel in the same situation? Do you think it is acceptable for a dentist to wrongly tell a patient that they are going to lose their teeth? How much stress or upset in that situation would you feel? You seem to lack any empathy.

I have lost teeth and I was neither ‘crying day and night’ nor ‘unable to eat or sleep’.
do you suffer with anxiety normally? It might be worth speaking to your dr to find a solution because yes, your reaction was not normal.

This is a bit bizarre. Apart from the money loss not much has actually happened

Firstly gum disease is incredibly common. It's nothing to do with how white or straight your teeth are. If you needed a scale and polish you will have had some level of gum inflammation which would be classified as gum disease. Its possible you had inflammation when you went to the dentist and false pocketing which has since settled

Secondly they told you you were at risk of ultimately losing your teeth, most likely if you did not seek treatment. They didn't tell you you were going to lose them tomorrow. If you have gum inflammation this can progress to bone loss and eventual tooth loss, this is a fact. Calculus (which is what needs removing in a scale and polish) is again a major causative factor in gum disease. You did need perio treatment.

It would have been appropriate for the dentist to carry out a scale and polish first rather than suggest you go straight to a periodontist. It would also have been appropriate to refer you themselves as then situations like this can be avoided. A complaint via the practice complaints procedure would be appropriate, you could ask whay your BPE score was, this will indicate what level of gum inflammation you had

I literally can't believe someone has suggested contacting the general dental council because you were diagnosed with gum disease!

@Carrotzen I had zero inflammation as the periodontist told me and when she measured my gums they were 1s and 2s. She just said I could do with a little scale and polish since I wasn't able to have one throughout covid but she said I could go back to have any dentist to do that and there was no need for me to go back and see her! My dentist had put my xray on the wall and pointed out areas where she claimed I had bone loss. The periodontist said I had no bone loss at all from xray.
I could not have had false pocketing as my dentist did not even check the measurements of my gums or anything like that, she just advised me to see a periodontist because of bone loss which she told me was irreversible.
I was not advised to contact the general dental council because I was diagnosed with gum disease, but rather because I was wrongly diagnosed and put through unnecessary worry and stress that was completely avoidable.

1s and 2s means inflammation which is gum
disease

They were within the healthy ranges what she said, as in the first two numbers that she was looking for, whatever they are. I thought that was 1 and 2 that the periodontist had said. But the clinic emailed me my notes and I have them somewhere. No inflammation no problems and everything normal was what I was told.

@Carrotzen I didn't realise number 0 was included in the numbers scale (I dont really understand it) so after realising that I now know it was 0s with a few 1s. That is still completely different from irreversible bone loss which was what I had been told I had.

I don't get your level of stress, though. Are you playing that up in order to sue?

You're kidding, right? One minute you're going about your everyday business popping along for a routine checkup that's always been fine your whole life, the next minute you're back out on the street thinking you've got problems so bad that you're missing a whole load of bone and might lose a bunch of teeth and you never even realised anything was wrong. You've got to sort out your own referral, pay a huge sum of money and wait two months, the whole time worrying about how it's going to turn out, asking yourself how this has happened, blaming yourself, not knowing if it's getting worse in the meantime, not knowing how much is going to be fixable or how much it's going to hurt or how much it's going to cost.

Fuck yeah I'd be stressed. Teeth carry a whole lot of stressful baggage with them — aside from their functional importance for eating and speech and such, there's a moral dimension to having healthy, healthy-looking teeth (people judge you if they think you haven't looked after them, and people are embarrassed if they have bad teeth), they're important for our attractiveness and sense of our own attractiveness, affect our personal relationships (bad teeth = afraid to smile or afraid to get close = impact on relationships), and can cost an absolute bomb if they go wrong. Plus, many of the things that can go wrong, including incorrect dental treatment, are irreversible, which is an extra layer of stress.

@ClumpingBambooIsALie Thank you so much for your reply, it has really meant a lot to me as I only posted on mn looking for some support and to have someone post accusing me of wanting to sue and minimising my suffering is really hurtful. It is not my intention to sue my dentist, I have had the same dentist for many years and had a really good relationship with them previously to this. I am just so upset that I was put through sleepless nights and worry for nothing. I only wanted others opinions and advice on what they would do in the same situation.

I don't know what I'd do, but I don't think you're crazy for having found the whole thing really stressful. I hope you're feeling better now you've been reassured by the periodontist, and that soon you'll be able to look back on those two months without feeling so upset about having gone through it.