Nhs Dental care is abysmal?

[pumpkinsweetie]

So here we are a family of 7, no vechile and cannot get an nhs dentist anywhere in our are.
We cannot afford to go private as it is extortion. So me and dh have what we think is an abscess each and we cannot get anyone in the area to accept new nhs patients and dentaline are always to busy to offer us an appointment

So tonight dh is screaming in agony and I phoned dentaline Again, only to be told they are too busy again, so I tried 111 who are basically useless as a chalk in a swimming pool, and tried to refer him back to dentaline, of course we explained no appointments were available, so half hour later a clinician phoned us back and again useless, cannot help him in any way, just the useless info of trying all the painkillers he has already tried and failed
as he has previously mentioned.
He asked whether the hospital would help him, apparently no he mustn't go there. He is now rocking back and forth and screaming and nothing is working.

When did our Nhs dentistry get so useless, that someone has to sit and suffer in extreme agony possibly with an abscess without any help??
Disgusting, aibu to be extremely peeved, and anyone any advice what to do with extreme dental pain? tia

[sleepdodger]

Have just joined dentist in my local Sainsburys after not being able to get an appointment at my nhs dentist for 6 months
it was £35 for 30 minutes which was alot less than I thought it might be and she actually looked interested in me rather than like a conveyer belt. We have a health scheme we pay £13 a month for all of us which means we can claim back 70% cost of treatment so in end think will cost about the same. Don't know if it's a one off or if they're everywhere but worth a look?

[MaryWestmacott]

Oh yes but agree op, nhs dental provision is shit. The assumption that medical care is available to all and free at the point of use, except for your mouth is insane. People rail against ideas of paying for gp appointments, yet we all accept for dental issues we will. If there were whole towns with no gps, or clearly not enough for all the town to register, they'd be up roar and the nhs would have to provide medical care, we just accept it for dental issues.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

You can't really join insurance schemes with loads of outstanding treatment needed IME.

[fififolle]

Why is "NHS dental care abysmal"?? All of it? Just because of years of self induced dental neglect and an inability to access free emergency care?
Why is a seemingly professional poster even considering suggesting that MaxFax should be called on a busy Friday night when such a highly qualified person will have their hands very full with facial injuries etc.?

[fififolle]

The last government introduced a new contract as a way of limiting it's NHS dentistry budget. Unfortunately it is under this new contract that access has become increasingly difficult.

[FelicityBennett]

Not all hospitals have on call max fax . Certainly our local dgh does not .

Agree with above - are you near any dental hospitals?

[TheFairyCaravan]

A MaxFax SHO is a dentist, they haven't gone on to do anymore qualifications at that point in their careers as a rule. By the time they are registrars and consultants they have done their medical degree and other qualifications.

Of course they should have been called down. The OP's DH could end up with blood poisoning from the infection if he is not treated properly. It is not the OP's fault that there is not enough NHS dental care in her area.

How do you know it is "self inflicted dental neglect" *fifi? A tooth can die and an abscess can form from a trauma such as a knock!

[McSqueezy]

You are definitely being unreasonable.

As already stated, if you neglect your teeth and then cannot manage instant access to emergency dental care, that is hardly the fault of the NHS! If both of you have a dental abscess, you really need to wonder why that is in the first place.

[herethereandeverywhere]

Sometimes dental neglect is the result of financial choices where accessible dentistry is expensive and money is spent on more pressing things than fillings. It's absolutely no surprise given the evolution of NHS dental 'care' over the last 20-30 years.

Having walked a mile in similar shoes I completely sympathise.

[HelloItsMeFell]

I agree that the general standard of NHS dentistry is patchy and rudimentary at best. In the case of an a suspected abscess, infection and severe pain the first port of call would be your OOH GP or A&E dept for some antibiotics. A dentist might well just do the same to calm the infection before he treats the tooth anyway.

[Szeli]

private isnt much more than nhs these days but i thought a&e have dentists on? i know someone who does that job

[HelloItsMeFell]

sorry just seen he went and was not given antibiotics.

Terrible.

[FelicityBennett]

If the hospital is big enough to have a max fax SHO on call they are responsible for looking after the patients who have had extensive head and neck surgery . Not to be called down to ED for a dental problem unfortunately.
The GDC and GMC have made it clear that doctors should not be treating dental problems.

Hopefully OP has managed to make an appt for her DP this am to be seen. If not do you have a dental hospital nearby?

[HelloItsMeFell]

McSqueezy where has the OP inferred that they have neglected their teeth? She has said they have struggled to find an NHS dentist within a reasonable distance to take them on and that they have not had a dentist for 2 years. Nowhere has she said that they have neglected their teeth or their oral hygiene. Sometimes infections and abscesses can be brewing beneath the surface and you have no idea until the pain hits. There isn't always an obvious sign of decay or an untreated problem at can be detected in advance.

[PacificDogwood]

I hope he's a bit more comfortable today.

Just for the record, antibiotics will not resolve a dental abscess. The pus needs to be drained - there's NO blood flow inside a pus collection which is what an abscess is. At best an antibiotic may treat with surrounding infection in the gums and may, possibly, help the pain that way.
Disclaimer: not a dentist, just a GP who's deeply uncomfortable being asked to prescribed for any dental problem because I have no clue what I am dealing with.

I'd ring my health board (?Practitioner Services - I am in Scotland, may well be v different were you are) and get them to allocate me to an NHS dentist. At the very least emergency care needs to be provided as far as I am aware.

[PacificDogwood]

… the surrounding infection…

Sorry.

[fififolle]

To be a Max Fax SHO you also need to have done a medical degree. If you are an oral surgery SHO then you might not done an additional degree.

Frequent sugar intake+lack if routine dental care+lack of proper cleaning=decay=abscess

Thanks for the lesson in trauma Fairy

[Methe]

It depends whet you live I guess. NHS dental care is fantastic here in the black Country but I know from working for 111 the some areas of the country literally have no emergency dental cover at all! Shocking really.

[ElsieMc]

My DD was in similar agony out of surgery hours on a weekend,but she got seen by the emergency dentist who was great. However, the only way they agreed to see her was when she told them she had plyers and was about the wrench the tooth out herself I am afraid, so not recommended. Her tooth was taken out.

She has NHS dentists whose practice has a bad reputation and she firmly believes the work undertaken there caused the infection.

Whilst we may criticise NHS dentists, the original dentist who carried out the (poor) work is now the owner of the private practice I have attended for 20 years which is very expensive.

[pumpkinsweetie]

tried 20 times and they are just hanging up on me, and if we had a dental hospital, of course that would be great but I live in crappy thanet

[PacificDogwood]

IME accessing emergency dental care is much easier if you are registered with a dentist anyway.
For people who don't have a dentist (often because they had previously not had dental problems so they did not register) and then suddenly need help in the middle of the night/weekends, it can be a bit of a horrid runaround.
I suppose forward planning helps, but that pearl of wisdom is no use to the OP just now.

AYBU? Partially, IMO.
Dental cover is not ideal and patchy.
OTOH, it's not 'abysmal' - you are complaining about ease of access, not quality of treatment.

When did you or your DH last see a dentist?

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Dentaline opens at 930 on weekends.I would try then.

[Meechimoo]

my husband had this and waited days to see a dentist, whilst in agony. When he finally got to the dentist, they sent an ambulance to the surgery because the access had become a very nasty infection. He was on a drip and in hospital for 2 days and they removed the tooth (in hospital)
Go private if you can. NHS dentistry is shite. Not just the waiting time and not being able to find a dentist. The treatment is often much poorer, quick fix solutions using cheaper methods and materials.

[fanjoforthemammaries7850]

Not always true.

[TheFairyCaravan]

You don't need a medical degree to be a MaxFax SHO according to the BMJ fifi, nor odd the ones I worked with have them, or the one who clerked and reviewed DS1 recently.