2 years wait to have a tooth pulled out!!!

[elliejjtiny]

Ds3 is 13. He had reflux as a baby and as a result his baby teeth at the back were/are badly damaged. His non molars are fine and his adult teeth are all good as the reflux stopped when he was about 2.

He has one baby tooth left at the back and there is no adult tooth underneath. It's had several fillings and now there is an infection so today the dentist has said it needs to come out. But the waiting list is 2 years! I know at this time we are fortunate it is all free and my 11 year old has been on a waiting list for complex surgery for nearly 3 years now but 2 years to pull out a tooth is just ridiculous. My 11 year old needed 7 baby teeth pulling out before braces and it was sorted within weeks.

That seems mad. Surely you can get an appointment before two years especially if it is infected? I'd be paying to get it sorted out.

Thanks, it's ridiculous. He's been prescribed antibiotics for the infection and we have too go back and see her if the infection comes back but we have to wait to have it pulled out. I'll look into costs of going private but the cost of a check up is £125 and we're on a low income so I would think having a tooth pulled would be hugely expensive.

Why isn't your dentist taking it out? Why has he been referred?

Yes I was told the same about my wisdom tooth.

I had it taken out privately as it kept getting infected.

The NHS dentist I had been with almost my entire life went private earlier this year & their prices were higher than other surgeries locally so we went to another one. I have had to pay for my DD to have two teeth extracted this afternoon & that cost £130. I also pay £5 a month for their dental plan which I think is two check ups a year. We aren't particularly well off & if you are on a low income it may well not be an option but the service has been fantastic, we can get an appointment really quickly so I'm glad we swapped. It does seem to be worth ringing round to find out what the costs are as some are more than others. They had 5* reviews on Google too.

@postitnot I don't know. Dh took him as I had to take ds1 to the job centre. Dh tends to just accept what professionals tell him whereas I always ask a load of questions.

It's £24 to have tooth out on NHS unless it is surgical. We had to go on new year's day as an emergency as it was infected. Ring the emergency line

That's obscene. I'm in London and my private checkups are £29, and I just had a tooth out for £150. Obviously more than the NHS cost but nothing like as bad as that!

£125 for a check up, are you sure? I have a private dentist and routine check costs £40,

That's what it says on their pre recorded message on their phone that you have to listen to before you are allowed to speak to a receptionist. It took a while to get an emergency appointment so I've listened to the message a few times lately

I'd look into a few different private places. That does seem very expensive for a check up.

Our dentist costs £85 for an emergency appointment but if you can get a routine one it's much cheaper. Definitely call around to get something, if you're having to wait a long time anyway.

Thank you. I've been trying to look up private costs but it's proven impossible as I don't know why he's been referred to the hospital or if he needs it done under sedation or GA. If I ring the dental surgery on Monday will the receptionist be able to tell me?

Why do you have to ring the receptionist, just ask your DH or DC what the dentist discussed? They were there? Neither you or the receptionist were?!

Did you go to an emergency dentist? They may just give antibiotics and refer on. Are there
no NHS dentists near you at all? I do agree, £125 sounds a lot for just a check up

The dentist didn't say why she needed to refer ds to the hospital or what kind of anaesthetic they were going to use and neither dh or ds thought to ask her.

We had an emergency appointment at the nhs dentist that ds3 is registered with. It's 30 minutes away but it was the closest one taking on new bus patients when our local one went private.

Is your child anxious particularly? A 13 year old should be ok having a decayed baby tooth out under a local anaesthetic and if that’s the case the dentist is perfectly capable of taking it out. (DOI I’m a dentist who works in an oral surgery department in a hospital). Re the £125 charge that seems very expensive - I imagine that may be the cost of an emergency appointment if you are not registered with a dentist. It’s worth calling a few practices to see what they would charge and if they could just book straight in. I work occasionally in practice and only do extractions so very normal to have patients come just for that alone and if it’s a straightforward case I just get them booked direct for treatment.

I suspect he's probably been referred for a GA if the wait is that long. Many hospital dental services are overwhelmed unfortunately. I'm a retired anaesthetist who used to work in this field. The waiting list for "urgent" dental GAs in our Trust before I retired a few years ago was about 6 months and we had one of the shorter waits in our region. I suspect it will have got worse since then and I know some other areas have far longer waiting lists than us.
I would suggest you confirm exactly where he has been referred and what for, and see if there are any alternatives. As @Custardcream84 says, I'd expect a typical teenager to be OK with a local anaesthetic for a straightforward extraction. There may be other reasons of course, I'm not saying the dentist is wrong to make the referral, but I your shoes I would definitely be asking for more explanation.

Thank you. He's not anxious but he does have adhd, I don't know if that makes a difference. He was quite cheerful about the whole thing when I saw him afterwards.

I’ve been waiting three years as mine needs pulling in the hospital due to health conditions. Nightmare. Toothache on and off all that time.

@WeAreNotCookingTheSpoon that's awful, I'm so sorry you've had to wait this long.

Honestly, it's insane what we put up with in this country, it really is. Nobody should have tooth-pain for years!!

So far I've contacted the dentist but had no reply. Also the only place anywhere near where we live (it's an hour's drive away) has quoted me £1800 at least to pull his tooth out under GA and we can't afford that.

A GA is extremely expensive, £1800 sounds about right. If its just under local anaesthetic it should be much cheaper. Try to find out again why your dentist won't do it?