Incredulous about what the dentist said to me.

[GranolaLover]

Bit of background first. I had to go to the dentist about a month ago as an emergency as I had had raging toothache for 4 days. It was the first time I'd been to the dentist in 10 years as basically couldn't afford it as I'm not working,on disability benefits. Have only found out from the receptionist at this visit that I am probably entitled to free,or reduced cost treatment as I'm on a low income. Anyway,I had the tooth removed as the dentist said it was 'past saving'. Fine,no problem with that,just wanted to get of the pain. But I asked him what could be done about my front,lower teeth. I lost one of the front middle ones about 2 years ago,and since then the one next to has moved slightly inwards,hence I have a gap at the front,with a wonky tooth next to it. Thankfully,it is not too visible. I have quite bad tartare build-up on the backs of my front teeth,which no amount of brushing or flossing can get rid of. It is probably what caused the tooth to fall out. I was surprised when the dentist said 'nothing could be done' about my teeth,as I had neglected them! I was and . I thought in these days of fantastic dentistry that something could be done to improve the look of them. I rather got the impression his attitude was 'Well what do you expect if you don't go to the dentist regularly?'. Anyone else experienced anything like this,or had a similar tooth problem to mine,but had it sorted?

Fluffywuffy you are being overcharged as our private dentist just did 2 crowns and a filling for my husband for just over £300

Yeah I’m sure I’m paying the very top whack possible - a super duper private practic in the City.

But I don’t think you can have the emergency treatment, root canal and an onlay done for much less than £1k anywhere? Root canal is time consuming for 4 roots.

To put it in perspective - a check up is £90 at my place so there is no way you’d get two fillings and a crown for £300.

They are really good tho. Sorted out some issues caused by sub-par dentistry in the past and they are so gentle. I’d never had 100% pain free dentistry before.

Thjds was an emergency appointment, they are there only to treat the pain and you need to find a regular dentisy to do the clean (or a hygienist) and any other work. However it's actually most likely that there isnt anything they can do, even if you payed thousands of pounds.
If one of your teeth fell out, that suggests that you have had bad gum disease and have lost a lot of bone around your front teeth.
For implants you need bone, which you may not have, and implants are prone to infection so If you aren't keeping your mouth clean then it's very risky and expensive and you wouldn't get them on the NHS anyway.
If you have lots of bone loss its unlikely the teeth either side would be able to support a bridge, because they dont have enough bone to support the extra force and putting a bridge on may damage them further, nd you coild end up loosig them too. Again putting a bridge in the mouth of someone who doesn't keep their teeth clean and doesn't go to the dentist is likely to cause many more problems with the next door teeth and would be quite unethical.

If your teeth have moved together there might not be space for a false one anyway, even if you are keeping your mouth really clean and have no gum disease.
Tartar is caused by not brushing your teeth, gum disease is mostly caused by not brushing your teeth. Honestly it is because of neglect, your dentist was harsh and they should have phrased it much better but they were telling the truth. It's not that they don't want to treat someone whoes neglected their teeth, or that they dont want to treat it on the nhs it's that genuinly there maybe nothing that can be done because it has gone too far.

In terms of more people having lots of fillings in the 70s fluoride tooth paste was introduced in early 60s in the UK, your not going to get everyone using fluoride by the 70s and there will still have been many years without so there will have been much more decay and many more fillings simply due to the lack of fluoride in toothpaste. More fillings were carried out by dentists that perhaps wouldn't be filled these days however more fillings would have been needed as well.

Also this is potentially a bit embarrassing but I didn’t actually know quite how to brush my teeth properly and floss properly and quite why it was so important until my mid twenties and I came to this practice and basically having hygenest appointments is mandatory and they really do a lot of education with you.

I mean, I was brushing my teeth and flossing occasionally but not really very well.

It took two full sessions with the hygienist a week apart (that was not fun) to get a base and then maintain with electric toothbrush and flossing with hygienist visits every 4 months.

That’s not an inconsequential cash outlay for people. You see on MN all the time people struggling money wise and I can see why preventative dental care isn’t prioritised.

@TheCowWentMoo that’s quite uncomfortable reading :-( ouch was my primary thought!

He was blunt but only telling the truth. It's nobody else's fault!
My anaesthetist friend has many horror stories of having to assist with teeth extractions under general anesthetic for children as young as 8 or 9 because of neglect of dental hygiene. Sad but true. We all need to take some responsibility for our an health.

our private dentist just did 2 crowns and a filling for my husband for just over £300

I have just been quoted £550 for a crown at my dentist which seems to be pretty standard in the area I live in

To be fair. 300gbp is NOT a lot for 2 crowns and a filling, and I would bet (without seeing them) that they would fall under #1 of my list, if that, to be honest! Your quote of 550gbp for one crown sounds good.

this can be a bridge or a crown on an adjacent tooth with the "fill in" one attached to that crown all in one unit Unlikely to be a crown or bridge on the NHS, more likely a denture.

Ontheboardwalk That article is from 1999!!

Everything thecowwentmoo said 👆🏼

different I posted the link know but forgot to put any context around it!

It was supposed to show that dodgy practices with fill for cash dentists did exist. I went to his dental surgery and my current dentist sees my mouth as a personal challenge because it was in such a mess when I went to him.

After an 18-month inquiry the GDC heard that Megitt made thousands of false claims for public cash, earning more than seven times as much as other NHS dentists.

In terms of more people having lots of fillings in the 70s fluoride tooth paste was introduced in early 60s in the UK, your not going to get everyone using fluoride by the 70s and there will still have been many years without so there will have been much more decay and many more fillings simply due to the lack of fluoride in toothpaste. More fillings were carried out by dentists that perhaps wouldn't be filled these days however more fillings would have been needed as well.

That doesn't explain why I and many others had loads of fillings with one dentist and then when switching to a different dentist (in my case on moving house) suddenly had no more. DH just stopped going to the dentist and funnily enough when he started going again many years later he did not require any fillings. One dentist in the 70s told my mother that she needed a lot of filling so she went to a different dentist for a second opinion and he told her her teeth were fine. The second dentist was obviously correct because the teeth that apparently needed to be filled have been fine for the last 40 years.

There was basically a fair amount of dodgy practice in the 70s and the children who were victims of this still suffer the consequences today .e.g DH has had to have fillings replaced over the years etc.

If dentists are angry at people having bad teeth they need a different job! If everyone had perfect teeth they wouldn't be making a living would they!

Red of course they would still have a job - they are there to help maintain dental health, not just fix problems

Red of course they would still have a job - they are there to help maintain dental health, not just fix problems

There would be some jobs but not as many if everyone had good teeth and they were just doing six-monthly check-ups. My dentist says that himself.

Actually not even six-monthly check-ups. I should say two-yearly checkups- an NHS dentist told me that according to guidelines this was the suggested interval for me.

You need to change to another dentist

What does being fat have to do with poor dental hygiene? Or laziness...

The point I was trying to make is that lots of people require treatment for things that could have been preventable, if they had looked after their bodies better, but anybody who fat shames others is soon pulled up on it.

I had the rudest dentist ever imho. My sister also visited him and found the same attitude. asked him some completely normal questions about why my teeth might have been so weak/brittle and was anything I could do to protect them in the future and he said 'How should I know?' in a very curt sarcastic tone of voice. He was like that all the time - in other words, the worst kind of person to be working with people every day. His manner was over the top unpleasant and offensive. However I think it backfired on him as his surgery recently closed down with no prior warning and the NHS wrote to me telling me they had moved me somewhere else. I have a far better dentist now, so I'd suggest trying a different practice, one that comes personally recommended if possible.

usernamealreadytaken nowhere near as many though! Surely they know they may encounter bad teeth before they even train? right back at you!

There's a lot of bitter, judgy people on today isn't there? So OP didn't go to the dentist and maybe (and I mean maybe, teeth are strange things!) didn't look after her teeth as well as she could have. The thing is a good dentist will give you alternatives or talk to you without being judgy, preachy or dismissive. When I left my job after having children and we were on one wage, the dentist was the first thing to go. I had always had bad teeth and after having kids they got a lot worse, but we always maintained that the dentist was something we just couldn't justify (food, mortgage and bills of course had to come first!). Add to that I don't drink coffee so to stay awake 7up was my poison of choice (hides behind hands and peeks out), my teeth went bad fairly quickly and I only got back to the dentist int he last two years. The people on here that don't seem quite so empathetic don't know how horrible it is to keep your mouth closed when you smile, or to sit in the dentist's chair in front of two people with perfect teeth and have them call out the number of teeth that need to be fixed. It's horrible and really brings you down. To all the people who look after their teeth, that's honestly great but some people find it tough. Give them a bit of a break.

@RedForFilth granted there could be fewer dentists if everyone had perfect teeth, but as that's an impossible standard it's really not worth debating. Given that this thread was about emergency dentistry for someone who did not look after their teeth, I don't see how your point is relevant - it is quite right that the emergency dentist couldn't do anything for OP's teeth, and I'm not sure why posters are questioning the dentist's "bedside manner" in actually doing their job - emergency dentistry not regular care.

At 57 I had gum disease in one pocket round a back tooth which the Nhs dentist couldn't do. I went to a private hygienist and had a 2 hour deep clean ( two separate one hour appointments to do each side) with about 5 injections
All back to normal now.

Monoblock67

Also I really struggle to believe that having been on disability benefits for so long that you didn’t know you were entitled to help with dental costs, I’m sorry but that’s what it reads like. I just can’t believe it’s never came up before.

It depends on what kind of disability benefits you are on as to whether you're entitled to free treatment or not.

A friend of mine has to pay monthly for her prescription despite being in receipt of PIP (I don't know the exact circumstances). My Mums friend had to pay partly for her prescriptions because she was on a different benefit to the normal one. Contributions based or something.