Not to go to the dentist for 6 month check ups

[60andsomething]

Well, I am in my 60s now, so it is a bit late if IABU! As children we went every 6 months, but I am not sure why. It was expected back then.

In the last 40 years I have been twice, both times because of side effects of other non-dental treatments.

The dentist I saw last year, to get a clean bill of health before starting on a powerful drug, now wants me to come back, as it is 6 months since I last went, and this is seen as enough justification to try and insist I go again.

I have never had any problems with my teeth, and generally go to the dentist once every 20 years or so.

I am a teacher, when it comes up in lesson, have asked my classes about their experience of dentists - I would say most teenagers these days have never seen a dentist, and don't have toothache.

AIBU to think the need for a six month check up is a myth? And if it aint broke, don't fix it?

I would go it I had a problem, or toothache.

We are lucky to still have an NHS dentist although I expect them to go private soon as another branch has and you have to go for a 6 monthly check up or they kick you off the nhs list so I make sure we always go. I book the appointment at the check up for the next 6 monthly appointment.

i have an nhs dentist, my local nhs dentist made me go private as i didnt go during covid! so i had to find a new one.
this current dentist says come every 6 months, which i duly do, but i do feel it is a waste of time, a check up without issues. but i see the hygienist 6 monthly and have had an email saying if i dont go for 2 years i will no longer be accepted as nhs.

its gums that are important at your age op@60andsomething

60 plus is when things start to go down hill, bone loss, receding gums, loosening teeth, failing old fillings the dentist will notice before you have any symptoms. And as others have said dentists also check for mouth and neck cancers. I would ask for 12 month appointments if you think 6 months is too frequent.

NHS Dentists are in great demand everywhere.I would not cancel .My DD was booted out of her Dentist due to Non attendance ,now at a private dentist further away.Also dont forget not just teeth problems ,my Dentist checks for oral cancer as well .The fact that the youngsters in your class dont go simply means their parents dont take them. NOT good!

I have good teeth and very few problems. My dentist has me on yearly check ups and six monthly hygienist appointments.

Don’t go yourself, by all means. Tooth decay and pain aren’t the only things you should be seeing the dentist for though.

They check for oral cancer, can spot other health issues and are checking for gum disease.

but if you are confident that you can get to the end of your life by visiting as and when you’d like.. go for it.. but you shouldn’t be putting that into the minds of the children you teach. Child tooth decay is absolutely rife at the moment so you’ve misinformed them already. You should be encouraging them to see the dentist, not the opposite.

EDIT: Apologies actually. I think I may have misinterpreted that part of your OP. Do you mean teenagers have told you that they do not see a dentist? If so that awful.

I have yearly check ups and have never seen a hygienist. They never used to be a thing - the dentist used to do a quick scrape and polish but that doesn't seem to happen now. I'm 48. No fillings but some thinning enamel where I grind my teeth.

I think a lot of it is genetic. My mum takes care of her dental hygiene but has pretty much every tooth filled and a number of crowns. My dad is casual about hygiene (does brush his teeth but that's it) and has a couple of later life (40+) fillings and nothing else.

I have 6-monthly checkups or my NHS dentist chucks me off their list. I see the hygienist annually (ish - whenever I can screw up spending £60 on it). I rarely need anything done, so I do sometimes wonder whether I'd be better off getting a dental plan with a private dentist - paying £30 twice a year for a very quick visual check only doesn't feel like great value. But then if I did ever need something major done, NHS treatment will be significantly cheaper.

I take my son (6yo) every six months too. They don't even do a clean/polish, just a visual check!

(It's actually a bit longer than 6 months, because I can only book an appointment when I'm "due", not in advance, and then it's usually a few weeks before I get one.)

A room in a cheap area that provides NHS dentistry costs upwards of £140 an hour to run .

To decontaminate, clean instruments , write up notes ,develop , grade and assess x rays , write prescriptions, referrals , restock surgery it takes a minimum of twenty minutes per patient .

In NHS dentistry many times what is paid does not cover practice expenses and that is without the number of people who fail appointments or cancel at short notice who cannot be fined for failing , for whom the practice gets no funding but still has to pay running expenses.

DH, DC (9 & 5) & I all go to the dentist every 6 months. We have a family appointment & go at the same time.
Our NHS dentist dropped all their NHS clients after Covid & after a tip off I found another NHS dentist 14miles away taking on new patients so got us all in there quick. We go regularly to keep the places, especially as DC may need expensive orthotics soon.
It's good to get the all clear each time.

OP I suspect that you might be on a bisphosphonate which , as other posters have said , makes you much more susceptible to a very nasty problem called osteonecrosis , which can sometimes happen spontaneously but more often happens if you have a tooth out .

Teh big problem is if you are in England or Wales there is no such thing as NHS registration , so unless you are under a course of treatment a dentist has no obligation to see you. In practice most dentists try to prioritise their regular patients .

As time has gone on and NHS dentistry is more and more under provided this means that it can be very difficult , if not impossible , to access a NHS dentist in an emergency even if you have medical problems . There has been a campaign recently about cancer patients accessing NHS treatment because many cannot progress their treatment unless dentally fit and cannot afford private treatment and NHS is just not available.

Ideally you want a dental problem sorted long before it gets to the extraction stage , and that means regular check ups and x rays . The government wants no one to go more than two years without a check up , most dentists would argue 3 months to 1 year depending on your risk .

As other posters have pointed out as you get older and start to take medications , your saliva decreases increasing risk of decay and gum disease. Your manual dexterity decreases and your diet changes (quite dramatically in some cases) . When having an extraction can cause such serious and possibly life threatening consequences then having a routine check up is sensible rather than waiting until you have pain or problems when accessing a dentist (even private) may be difficult and the treatment more problematic .

It's daylight robbery for a skilled professional to assess your hard and soft oral tissues for signs of progression of caries, periodontal disease, tooth wear and most gravely, oral cancer? What you think of a "look and poke around" is a detailed examination for all the above so a bespoke care plan can be made if needed.

Sadly as the public thinks so little of us as professionals, working in this field is becoming more thankless by the day...

Op re your posting , dental decay is the number one reason for a child to go to hospital in the U.K.

There has been a 83% increase in dental general anaesthetics in 0 to 19 year olds , the waiting list for a dental GA in my area is over two years. https://www.dental-nursing.co.uk/news/huge-rise-in-childhood-tooth-extractions-under-general-anaesthetic

Nation wide by the time a child is 5 around a third already have dental decay https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/oral-health-survey-of-5-year-old-children-2022/national-dental-epidemiology-programme-ndep-for-england-oral-health-survey-of-5-year-old-children-2022

By the time they are 12 over 40% of children will have experienced decay..

To be fair it is daylight robbery. For a young dentist graduating with £80,000 or more debt who , after their 50 to 70% is taken off their gross payment for practice expenses , then tax , then indemnity, registration , CPD , insurances , personal equipment , student loan , holiday pay , sick pay etc to be earning , at times , minimum wage when they work in a country where you have the highest chance of being sued , is being robbed .

70% of dentists do not own a practice , many never will because they could not get a loan for a practice based on what they earn .

A practice working on the NHS gets no more money to cover all of its expenses other than what is earned by seeing people. Indeed many practices have a dental activity value that is lower than what a patient pays so they pay back money to the government for every patient they see.

Routine dental check-ups help pick up and prevent issues before they get serious/painful - issues you might not be able to see yet, but could get very painful (and expensive) if they are left to get worse.

I personally believe 6 months probably is unnecessary if you are blessed with good tooth genes... but even if you went every 2 years, it would probably do you good. I wouldn't just give up on it altogether.

I don't think what teenagers do is relevant, for several reasons, but not least that their teeth have approximately 50 years less wear than yours!

Yes, I agree, I wouldn't tell teens not to go, that is up to them and their parents. But they tell me they don't - for example, when the idea of identifying someone by dental records came up, it transpired that no one in that class ( 30 x 14 year olds) had ever seen a dentist

Only if they don't brush them at home. Brushing and a healthy diet is what keeps teeth healthy. Although the main component is genetic. A 6 monthly visit to the dentist is only going to deal with problems - the prevention is what you do every day at home

If you are in a deprived area it's not that surprising they don't go every 6 months as they probably can't get an NHS dentist and don't want to pay for private. Although I think it's really surprising that none of them have any fillings! I would think in most classes of 30 teenagers there would be at least a few who'd had a filling at some point.

It surprises me too

Do kids in the UK not get fissure seals at about age 12?

A note of caution re not visiting a dentist… We saw a mid 30’s male for a check up, spotted an (odd looking)ulcer under his tongue. Asked him to come back in 2 weeks to see if it was still there. He didn’t come back, we called him, he’d gone travelling. He came back 3 months later, still had the ulcer. We referred him on the 2 week pathway. He lost half of his tongue due to oral cancer.

Apart from Covid lockdowns, that means your entire class has had their health neglected by their parents for around 12 years of their lives. No wonder Turkey Teeth are becoming a thing - they've been systematically let down since infancy.

(I should know - I first saw a dentist twice aged 9 and then nothing else until I walked into one next to my secondary school aged 15 and asked them to see me. My mother's idea of dentistry was it was where you went if you couldn't get all of your broken/completely dead from the root and no longer being held in by the ligaments tooth out by yourself - and then complain because their cleaning of the teeth meant that there were gaps for food to get into instead of the tartar filling the spaces).

I hated not being able to afford even NHS prices. I'm so glad I've been able to start going again now.

I'm always amazed when people don't go to the dentist if they can access one.
I have check ups at least 6 monthly, and hygienist every 6 months.
I have always been to the dentist regularly, as have my dc.
I wish I could have other physical checks done as regularly as I would always favour prevention/ early detection.

Im late 50’s and have some gum problems. It’s true it’s genetic and smoking even in a past life is very bad for this (ex smoker). I think my teeth are in good shape for my age and I go once a year and twice for the hygienist. I have fillings from when I was a teenager and they are a bit crowded and crooked due to drifting forward with age I think.