To plead for advice RE dentist crisis

[teethingproblems]

Have a phobia of the dentist. Hadn't been in a long time. Take good care of my teeth.

Paid privately for a check-up, all fine, said teeth look healthy etc. But then said "X-rays are included in this cost so we will quickly have a look".

After taking pictures on the X-ray machine, turns out I need 5 fillings. Cue the panic. (Not sure how one minute they were healthy and the next 5 fillings!?)

Now I've been on the NHS waiting list for years, here in Cornwall, it's just not happening.

The treatment equates to about £1000, how do I pay for it? I considered dental insurance but they won't cover treatments until you've been with them 3 months, so I have 3 months to wait?

Is it normal for dentists to find £££'a worth of cavities through X-ray at check ups?

(I'm 24, I experienced some dental trauma as a child, last went to the dentist when I was 19. Please don't flame me, I know it's bad)

Thanks! X

I'd take out insurance and go again as soon as they will pay out. BUPA dental practices also have nice dentists who are very patient in my experience - great if you are nervous. They also don't make any more or less money themselves as they are salaried (so no reason to bump up what you need).

Can I ask how far you have gone in trying to find an NHS dentist? You say you are ‘on the waiting list’ however, this should not be how it works. There is a process in place if you are in England which you can read here www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/dentists/how-to-find-an-nhs-dentist/ with the relevant part as follows:

‘ Problems finding an NHS dentist

If after contacting several dental surgeries you still cannot find a dentist accepting NHS patients, call NHS England's Customer Contact Centre on 0300 311 2233.

NHS England commissions dental services in England and is required to meet the needs of their local population for both urgent and routine dental care.

Your local Healthwatch may be able to give you information about services in your area or raise a concern if you have one.

Find your local Healthwatch

If NHS England has been unable to help you find a dentist and you want to raise your concerns about this, contact them on:

email: [email protected]
phone: 0300 311 2233
visit the NHS England website
If you're still not satisfied with NHS England's response, you can take your complaint to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.’

You will find threads on Mumsnet declaring it hopeless or even entitled to seek NHS dental treatment. It really riles me. Either it should be removed by review and agreement or supported. To be fair, if everyone moans but doesn’t follow the process to the conclusion of an ombudsman complaint then the scope
and extent of the issue goes undocumented. I’d really urge you to follow the process outlined by NHS England if you haven’t already and are in England.

@KenDodd

The Tories have effectively privatised dentistry in the UK, and we let them, we voted for them, we didn't kick up a fuss, it is our fault. Other NHS services will be next. We get what we vote for.

I haven’t managed to find an NHS dentist for years and years, through both main parties of government. The last time I had one was 1996 but they did a bad job and then I moved house so I deregistered. The OP is after dental advise not political commentary.

@KenDodd

The Tories have effectively privatised dentistry in the UK, and we let them, we voted for them, we didn't kick up a fuss, it is our fault. Other NHS services will be next. We get what we vote for.

Well the Op didn’t as she’s barely got one vote in her life - so pretty irrelevant and not helpful is it

We are lucky enough to have been accepted by an NHS dentist, it's 40miles away but I'm happy to drive. New dentist showed me my x rays, said there is no way that the root canal filling will ever work as the decay is far too severe, tooth just needs removing. Also said the implant for a rear tooth is not worth it and he would leave it alone.
After x raying my DD he was mystified as to why she was told she needs 5 fillings, said her teeth are perfect

Alternative view: NHS dentist looks at "worth it" in a different way to your private dentist does.

A friend's dentist said she wouldn't perform an expensive procedure on him funded by the NHS because she didn't think it was a good investment of limited NHS funding as she didn't think he'd keep it in good enough condition

@onetc yes 3 nhs dentists told me this. They said we will just take the 5 teeth out even though they could have been saved. I waited and waited then the pandemic hit and had them removed because no other procedures where allowed. I had 3 nhs dentists say if I do it on nhs I will take them out. If you go private with me I will do root canals

[quote teethingproblems]@Serenschintte but you left it a year, did no pain occur? My dentist said I shouldn't wait [/quote]
I wanted to wait another year but she advised me not to. She’s a good dentist so I took her advice.