To want to bang my head off a wall re NHS Dentist situation

[52andblue]

I was registered with an NHS Dentist but I moved house. Meant to be for 4 months, but ended up being 4 years. Whilst away I paid for my kids to have private check ups but let mine slide due to finances. Then I moved back. I still qualify for NHS dentistry but no longer on list.

I cracked a chunk of tooth off on a piece of grit in food c. 3m ago.
Big hole developed but I can't get dentist appt. anywhere. It gets worse. I discover an emergency NHS helpline. They see me in 3 days (very grateful!!!). Turns out tooth totally rotten, infection starting to develop below gum line. They attempt to pull it but crown cracks off.
I am left with 3 large divergent roots & told will need dental surgeon to remove - they will refer to dental dept in local small hosp. They give me penicillin, tell me to take pain meds and 'shouldn't be long'.
I call Hosp today to enquire roughly what waiting list might be (appt was fast last time & I've 2 x SN kids I'd need to arrange cover for).
Hosp says: '12-18 months'.
Oh, Shit!
The pain is worse than before tooth partly pulled out.
I've got 3 roots partly sticking down into my mouth still.
I want to bang my head off a wall. I can't even bend down to unload dishwasher without it pounding, even on 30/500 co codamol.

I know I should have gone more regularly so IABU.
I know that people are waiting for major operations & cancer tx.
But surely I won't be left for 12-18m with live roots twanging away?

(If you think IABU please be gentle, I've never posted here before)

I think you will have to go private. The NHS dental system has fallen apart. The Tories ensured that would happen long before Covid

Agreed. Go private. It will likely be expensive but will be done quickly and most offer a payment plan over at least 12 months to pay it off

I can get a private appointment tomorrow. Can you put it on a credit card.

I know the situation isn’t ideal but NHS dentistry is a thing if the past even before covid.

2 years ago I was sat in the dentist listening to the receptionist tell people that there weren’t any nhs appointments for 3 weeks. I’d booked my appointment that morning.

Afraid NHS dentistry is terrible. Not sure I blame the Tories as the situation in Wales is equally bad or worse. No one wants to take NHS contracts as they simply don't pay enough (my dentist told me that for doing my root canal, the NHS payment was only enough to cover the materials/ single use instruments used - nothing for overheads, let alone his salary).

Get back to your dentist who referred you and tell them you literally cannot function due to the pain - 12 to 18 months is awful, you poor thing

It's a disgrace the way NHS dentistry is funded, toothache is appalling and in my experience it's worse than labour, c-section recovery or appendicitis (been through all 3) because it's in your head, you can't ignore it like a further-away body part.

Also YANBU and I hope you can sort something, whether that's going private or somehow moving up an NHS list. Have you tried looking really far afield geographically (I managed to get dental treatment on the NHS by travelling 60 miles for it!)

Things are very different here. When I moved and changed dentists I could have my pick of NHS dentists. The one I chose, I never have a problem getting an appointment. A few weeks ago I had toothache and because of that they squeezed me the same day.
Tell the dental hospital that you are in absolute agony OP and keep telling them.

Just go private. Why wouldn’t you?! You can’t live like that.

Where are you?
If London you used to be able to go to Kings and be seen by the dental students. I THINK you could walk in and be treated the same day?

Downside: it was slow going because you were treated by a student who was having their work checked
Upside: students were supervised by very competent senior dentist, it was free. You were no longer in pain.

If it’s still a thing, I would.

@Oogachuckachopsy

Perhaps OP can’t afford it.
That is why I haven’t been to have my troublesome wisdom tooth removed.

[quote VaguelyInteresting]@Oogachuckachopsy

Perhaps OP can’t afford it.
That is why I haven’t been to have my troublesome wisdom tooth removed.[/quote]
Of course, but surely you just find a way when you’re facing this sort of dilemma. You can’t live in agony. My dentist does payment plans, you can probably have an interim treatment to ease the discomfort like work root canal but ultimately it’s t out how to pay for it or wait up to 18 months with a mouth that pounds with pain when you bend over.

£120 to have my tooth pulled private can anyone help you if you haven't got the funds you can't wait that long

I had to go private. No NHS in my town or within 50miles. I was stung with a £400 bill.

Those asking why OP doesn't just go private show their ignorance. When a small filling costs £250 and a large filling costs £400, I can only imagine how much money OPs procedure will cost. A frightening amount.

I'm so sorry OP. It might be worth at least investigating how much it would cost to go private so you know your starting point. It might not be as bad as you think. Difficult to say without knowing your financial circumstances.

My private dentist basically said that NHS has gone to shit.

It was £150 for my tooth to come out but OPs doesn't sound like a straight forward tooth pulling anymore, it's a failed one. If they want to refer her to a small hospital then she may need to be put under and that will cost.

Just go private. Why wouldn’t you?! confused You can’t live like that.

Seriously? Have you seen the cost of private dentists. I haven't had consistent NHS dental care for 35yrs, constant relocation has made it impossible. I do pay an insurance policy which covers some of the costs and I cross my fingers a lot. My teeth are terrible due to private cowboy dentists doing work that wasn't needed.

I feel so sorry for you op. We had nhs dentist which closed due to funding being removed.
It took a false start before I found current dentist. Yes I pay but depends on income and circumstances. I am more than happy to pay as the pain was unbearable.
Ask for recommendations and someone bound to be able to help.

That sounds awful, find out how much private will cost it not be cheap but least it will give you option of seeing if it is an option. You can’t live for 12-18m like that and I can believe it will be that long after hearing horror stories before.

Some dentists are offering emergency appointments only. It might be worth ringing around

Or if finance is an issue contacting a private dentist to discuss options?

Can you get signed off and go back to GP saying you need long term medication?

As they attempted to extract the tooth and it broke it sounds like it would be fine for the surgical extraction to be done under local. I would have been happy to continue on and provide you with the surgical extraction there and then after the tooth broke, you might have needed a top up of local, but not all dentists have the same skills (you really wouldn’t want me to attempt a molar root treatment for example!) Also some emergency’s dentists may not have the equipment or time and usually when you snap a tooth either the infection can drain or the nerve dies. If the nerve is in the process of dying it will start to get better if it’s an infection the antibiotics will work.

The reason I started to post was actually to say a private surgical extraction under local will not be hideously expensive, where I am it’s £250 and nowhere in the UK should you have to pay more than £500, you could pay more for the very fancy private clinic but you don’t have to. I know for many people that still would be too much and you shouldn’t have to pay but just in case she thought it was going to be ££££

In the meantime make sure you are taking ibuprofen if it’s safe for you regularly as well as co-codamol and I hope you feel better soon

@Oinkypig what a lovely post! And very helpful and informative. I am currently waiting for my tooth to break before the dentist can do anything with it and I have been very, very worried as to what that might mean. I found your description very helpful and reassuring, so thank you

Ok, you can self refer to a private oral surgeon. Not a dentist in the traditional sense, although they are usually dual qualified. That's who you've been referred to on the NHS.

It's about £150 for the consultation and another £350 to have a tooth out (one of the ones I want out is near the nerve so that's more, £600 ISH).

I got an appointment the next day.

@JuneOsborne

You are talking about a maxfac surgeon and from what the op describes she doesn’t need a dual qualified person, a single qualified oral surgeon would be the person to see. You probably don’t either but it depends where you are, some places in the UK all oral surgery (both NHS and private) is under maxfac and other areas have oral surgeons and some areas have a mixture ( and again a mix of who does what privately and on the NHS). You will pay more for a maxfac surgeon though. Your cost sounds fair for a private maxfac person.

Thank you to the other poster as well! I only ever post on dental threads when I think I might help!

Yeah the NHS dental system round here is so messed up. Like no one is taking on NHS patients. So I'm stuck without one. Trying to save to go private but no idea how much that will cost.

Thank you all for being kind.
(I was a bit nervous of IABU)
Thanks too to @Oinkypig for the specific dental comments

the Dentist who worked on me was lovely and did advise that she 'might not manage it all' but to refer me to the Hosp would mean going away and getting registered with an NHS dentist (no one is accepting registrations for 50miles around here, I am rural Scotland, and had to travel 35miles as it was, which I'm not moaning about, just grateful they saw me, but I could see that finding someone to let me register even might take a couple of weeks).
Whereas, she said, if she 'had a go and it snapped she could refer me directly to the Hosp for them to finish it'. So, that seemed best. What I didn't know was it would be a routine referral with that waiting list or I might have made a different decision as the pain is worse now than it was before, ironically.
Private is a problem financially. I'm a Carer for my two kids with Autism & my H left us so I live on Carer's allowance which is topped up by Income support. Not meaning to play a tiny violin for sympathy at ALL just explaining why the thought of a £500 bill scares me!
I will call the emergency number / hosp back tomorrow and if no joy at all I might need to try to find a private dentist and put it on a credit card. Off to bed now to try to get some sleep. Thanks all.