to wonder why people don't worry about black stubby teeth?

[khaliwali]

I have just watched an episode of Jeremy Kyle for the first time in years. I am not trying to make fun of, or judge people who may be on low income/benefits and those who may have a drink problem, please don't think I am. Quite rightly, as far as I know, in the UK dental treatment is still free to people who can't afford to pay. On this particular show, all of the people under 40 had either teeth missing or blackened rotten front teeth. I wonder why more isn't done to promote dental health, surely gum disease and all of it's related diseases are expensive for the NHS to treat and in 2011, completely unnecessary.
As I said, I am not slating the people on this show although I do think that they are being exploited but that it another story.

We are low income but still have to pay so we dont go. I have 3 grey front teeth cos some knobber root filled them with silver amalgam years ago. I hate them and the abcess is still there. The cheapest option is havi them removed but they are fro t incisors. I have to live with them and not smile :(

icesand - we have an access centre round here but they will only do dire emergencies. I lost half a tooth before I'd signed up with a dentist and they wouldn't see me because it wasn't serious enough!

It annoyed me greatly that I still have to pay full whack for dental treatment when pregnant because there are no NHS dentists available. I am lucky though, reading the replies above because our dentist is very good and you can always get an emergency appointment the same day. (And he has a poster with all the mr men on above the chair - now that's worth paying for!)

adamschic it would seem that he is offering this service as a sideline for paying customers. If I wanted my teeth Zoom whitening as a private client I would pay £400 but he is offering the same service to NHS clients for £200

I too went to the dreaded caravan that called at schools in the 60's/70's how I remember the fear!

I might have to find the money to get mine replaced soon, they look awful, and I can see on photo's that they have deteriorated in the last 2 years. Fingers crossed that the other dentist agrees to proper treatment. My friend managed to get a bridge replaced once she threatened the ombudsman. Might be worth a try for all of us suffering from rotten looking teeth via NHS treatment.

For a lot of people on JK it is the drugs that have led to grotty teeth, not lack of NHS dentistry or a lack of priorities. But being smacked off your face and not brushing your teeth ever.

Carnival, oh I see. There is a massive market for teeth whitening atm. You can also buy the kits from Boots or over the internet. Unfortunately it only works on natural teeth and there is no over the counter treatment for crowned teeth, they don't respond to the whitening or I would be trying it, just to make mine look a little better.

Also dentist are blaming the patient for gum disease. You haven't cleaned, flossed, mouth washed properly. You smoked years ago and drank alcohol therefore you have created your problems, we cannot afford to treat it now. Hate to think this will be a default excuse for other treatments.

As many posters have said, it depends on either lifestyle, education and fear.
A relative of mine has shocking teeth. His reason is lack of education about oral hygience and fear.
I feel desperately sorry for him.

The kits you can get from the chemist or online are obv not as effective as the dentist treatment hence the enormous trend in tooth whitening procedures at the surgery to achieve the Hollywood/ Xfactor look - I spoke briefly in a jokey way to the NHS dentist yesterday about getting my teeth Zoomed and he said I was not a good candidate as my teeth were beautiful - what an outrageous flirt he is!!!! But he would book me in if I felt it necessary ....hmmmm money grabber!

My sister had really bad teeth after years of dentist avoidance, smoking, drinking alcohol, 6 tins of full fat coke a day - she visited my parents who live abroad and they talked her into getting dental veneers at there expense - her 6 upper front teeth. They look great but she is still smoking , boozing and drinking full fat coke and the rest of her teeth are now crumbling around her new beautiful veneers - theres no telling some folk !

Paying for dental treatment isn't solely a problem for people on benefits. Those of us not entitled to any benefits who aren't a candidate for NHS treatment have to pay ourselves too. I had my front teeth knocked out when a car drove into me when cycling 15 years ago. Bridge now failed and kept falling out but NHS won't replace it with anything but dentures (as if).

I found it much cheaper to go to Spain to pay for private treatment, even taking into account air fares for 3 separate trips (Ryanair). £4500 as opposed to £12000 for 4 implants and bone grafts, still a lot but decided to bite the bullet as what they don't always tell you about bridges is that eventually you get bone loss where the tooth roots used to be, and your face might cave inwards when you get older...

Vitual, sadly most some people don't have £4,500 lying around to fix their teeth, so I guess that answers the OP's question.

How much are dentures on the NHS? m considering it.

I have always attended the dentist regularly. I have very weak teeth, try my best to care for them but rely on dental care to maintain. We moved to a new area a few years ago. We were on the nhs waiting list for 5 years, when we did get accepted the dentist was 2 hr drive away. By the time I attended my teeth were a disgrace. The nhs now only cover certain dental . You are allocated a certain amount of money for every 6 month treatment, due to me needing a few fillings and some extractions my money did nhs money did not cover dentures. Now I have to wait till 6 months is up to go back and get a plate as I have a missing front tooth. The nhs in my area to not cover crowns, implants but provide root canals, filling etc, so if a filling isn't enough then it's extraction, so don't look at people with bad teeth thinking they are doing nothing, like all nhs treatment it's a damn site more complicated than walking in with black teeth and walking out with a Hollywood smile

I think you can get bridgework on the NHS though adamschic, certainly for the front teeth, and to be fair, not everyone knocks their teeth out in a cycling accident, which creates quite a lot of internal mess with the roots. This is 15 years down the line following several lots of root treatment, which you will also get on the NHS, and I could have got another bridge, but opted to get implants which will hopefully last longer and prevent further bone loss. Same cost as getting a bridge done privately here.

Guidance to what the NHS will and will not do is available online and you can get quite a lot done following trauma (e.g. an accident), including in some cases implants, but not 15 years after the trauma! I can't see how it varies nationally and why Chummybud1 would have to wait 6 months for a denture to fill a front tooth gap - is it due to infection or an abscess healing perhaps?

As I explained in Scotland it is based on a financial allowance, as I needed so much treatment i used up my limit for that 6 months so have to wait till the next checkup when the allowance starts again before I can get fitted for a denture. My dentist will not even consider implants on the nhs. If this is wrong then I would like to know as I am only repeating what I was told by my dentist

I've been told only this week by my dentist that bridgework is not available on the NHS, only a partial denture. I need two gaps bridging and he's quoted me £1,000 for the whole job. I think i'm going to go for it with a bank loan.

I think maybe the JK show wardrobe and make up people may be exaggerating theses poor unfortunate souls less desirable features. Never quite sure why the wardrobe department gets involved in dressing the audience too, surely they could just dress normally.

stupefy

Not to many moons ago, some grooms/brides parents used to pay for the bride to have all her teeth out & fitted with dentures, so she could concentrate on looking after her husband/family. The idea being, that if she didn't have teeth, she wouldn't be in pain.

it must be an area thing why certain dentists treat it and some dont

All NHS dentists offer treatment for gum disease. I think something like 1 or 2 appointments a yr are allowed for this.

But this is not enough to cope with gum disease, as it needs frequent appointments to cure it & then preventative treatment. With a hygienist. And the NHS doesn't allow for that!

So, many dentists will say they don't treat it & book you in with their hygienist at private costs.

But it is available to be offered by all practitioners.

Replacement crowns are available on the NHS, the reason they were fitted in the first place was 'cosmetic'

But the NHS no longer do cosmetic treatment, which is why your crowns won't be replaces on the NHS. It doesn't matter that they were done for cosmetic reasons on the NHS 20yrs ago. They simply aren't covered now.

Virtualwitch, anyone can be a candidiate for an NHS dentist.

If any of Jeremy Kyles 'guests' are heroin addicts, 90% of the time they will have really rotten teeth, this is because most of them take methadone as well.
Even if they are not on a methadone programme they will be able to get their hands on it.
Methadone dries up the saliva in the mouth, therefore, they end up with seriously bad teeth!

They only fix your front teeth for free and it's hard to get dentists. I've got a missing tooth on one side and it's not covered. Bridges are sometimes covered but if you've got weak teeth (which are not the same as a weak character btw) bridges cannot be used and only implants are secure. So unless I've got a spare £2,000 I'm stuck. I'm choosing to see it as piratical and interesting. (sob)

A lot of medications dry up saliva. Amytriptiline, an old style antiD also used for chronic pain, is a killer for rotting teeth in this way.

My mother has shocking teeth (and to be fair she nearly went on jk once) I don't think I have ever seen her brush her teeth, she smokes, hardly eats and drinks black coffee with loads of sugar.

I don't like my teeth. Growing up with a lot of sugar I'm sure is a big contributing factor, but also going to an absolute butchers of a dentist. I don't know if anyone has heard of Leagrave in Luton but years ago they had this dental clinic that looked like a dodgy vets. It has since been replaced. But at 14 they gave me a root canal filling but first they took half my tooth away. Apparently it should have been removed and my other teeth would have closed up the gap making it less obvious. Now it is too late.

I am very wary of taking dd to a dentist tbh, because I am so scared some butcher will fuck up her teeth. I brush them after she does, I am careful about sweets and things. I am trying to get the courage to take her. I know it makes me sound like a terrible parent.

A good diet is essential for healthy teeth. A lot of poor people cant afford or access it :(

Heroin addiction will make the entire person look like the walking dead, not just their teeth. (previous job involved working with some addicts - and those were the ones recovering!).

Because their too busy getting dan tests lol