Another dentist one ...

[angstyaugust]

Paid for an emergency dental appointment. As it was emergency appt, dentist advised could only patch it up and I'd have to book another full appointment to have it treated (a filling). I had no other choice but to try that as it was hurting too much to have nothing done. Anyway, although I thought it had worked at the time, turns out the patching up hasn't worked at all and it's still hurting when I drink anything cold or bite down on it.

AIBU to think paying the dentist for emergency treatment that doesn't work is a bit unfair? I did ring back and they just said 'take painkillers until you can have it properly filled' which is 3 months away.

How long ago was the treatment? Fillings and temporary fillings can take a little time to settle down. I'd give it 2 weeks x

My teeth can be more sensitive after fillings, even temporary. I’d take isi killed and give it time for any swelling to go down.

The treatment was about 10 minutes. At first he said he'd just drill a bit out so when I bit down the crack wouldn't be placed under pressure to open and it wouldn't hurt. I said that wouldn't stop the pain when I drank cold water though so he put a bit of what he called 'composite' in. I thought it had worked until later that evening and it flared up again.

I'm really cross about the change in NHS policy. You now have a temporary filling (mine fell out after a few days), then book another appointment to have a check up and the filling put in properly. If you've had a check up in the last 2 months you don't have to pay for that. Why you can't just have a filling is beyond me. If you are older, your teeth can crack and fillings fall out. You could be paying for 6 check ups a year. It's the time I have to take off work for multiple appointments that really annoys me. As though other people's time is worth nothing. It's a licence to print money with all these unnecessary temporary fillings and check ups. Not to mention the damage to your teeth from drilling them out twice.

I'd just like an NHS dentist at all.