Dentists and DCPs in here

[ValleyoftheHorses]

Hello
How is everyone?

Hi, I’m on mat leave atm, hence replying at about 5am to the toothache thread! Feed and nappy change time!

Hello
Congratulations! Boy or girl? Is it your first?
I have one, DS,7.
Are you going back full time? I do 3 days, 2 in practice and a day at a Dental School.
I just have insomnia sometimes

hello! can i join in? i mainly work in the cds but trying to get into practice but am scared of udas!

UDAs can be ok if you have a nice established well maintained list in a low needs area.
Steer clear of high needs, building a list and corporates.

ah ok, are corporates not a good bet? i was looking at mydentist but the contract didn't look great. why is high needs etc not as good? any tips are great as in all my years as a dentist have never been in practice

Hi! Can I join too? Dentist here, working 2 days in nhs practice. In Scotland so thankfully no uda system to negotiate!

Hi dental nurse here, just thought I'd say hello

Dental nurse here, work in dental hospital

All dental team welcome
I have never worked for a corporate but haven’t heard good things- my dentist don’t have the best reputation to work for. I’m willing to be corrected though!
Do you understand the UDA system? If high needs you could be doing hours and hours worth of treatment for 3 UDAs- it just isn’t fair on anyone.
If you have a decent list of well maintained patients it’s fine though- one or two fillings plus an exam and s/p is ok for 3 UDAs.
Why are you leaving CDS?

Ex dentist! I've checked out but I can't leave... per hotel California

i don't really want to leave the CDS but there are just no jobs. all temporary contracts and they tend to prefer newly qualified as cheaper. but also i think i have reached as far as i can within the cds. i think practice will give me more options to pursue what my interests are. but the main barrier is i have no uda experience so obviously practices will not want someone who can't meet their targets. i don't know i feel really stuck and have had to take normal jobs just to pay the bills

Depending on your area I’m sure you’ll find an associate job and once you’ve done a year or so can move on if needed. You’ll have experience then.
mrsmorton. We have chatted before under my previous username.
Does everyone enjoy the job?
To be honest I don’t always. I have massive anxiety these days, I just worry all the time.

i absolutely love it always have but i don't know if that's due to the relatively protected environment of the CDS.

Hi all, I'm a. Hygienist, working privately.

Hi toothgenie and Terrysyoghurt
How are things with you both?

yummy, that’s great you love it, hope that continues!

Hi guys, IV been a dental nurse for over 20 years, mostly do oral surgery only, I absolutely love it 😁

still technically on dental register but no longer doing dentistry just too stressful, not sure whether I will resign from dental register in December but can't keep paying 850 for nothing

was working for a mainly NHS practice in a deprived area of Scotland

I remember you from threads a while back Mrs Morton I know you said you were leaving are you still in dental field or doing something completely different?

teacup, if you leave dentistry what will you do? that's the struggle i have been having as no jobs in cds so have had to do other things but i want to do dentistry. am a bit nervous that as have been out of it a while will have forgotten everything.

Teacup
I know the feeling- I tho k it might be my age- early 40s. I get really bad anxiety/ insomnia/ palpitations. I have a bad case of imposter syndrome and I tend to take any problems/ complications/ failures/ complaints to heart. I haven’t had that many complaints in a 20 year career but I don’t want to feel like this for the next 20 years.
Looking for an exit strategy. I have started doing a day clinical teaching which I’m enjoying and doesn’t stress me so hoping that might be it but will have to see how it goes.

i'm doing something completely different working in antiques and collectables just now
I'm over 50 with no mortgage so I do not need the previous income but it is a big drop but I'm happier, I have more time for DD but less money
unfortunately a dental degree is not much use for anything else
@valley I know the feeling everything is getting so litigation happy and some complaints are ridiculous one patient complained his cancer appointment was too far away, he had not been for 2 years he came in on a friday afternoon and I got him an oral medicine appointment the following tuesday, obviously his complaint was completely unjustified but it took hours of time with DDU etc and several sleepless nights though I knew for sure there would have been no sign 2 years ago but I don't need that type of hassle in my life
in one way I think he was just looking to blame someone for his misfortune 95% of patients are lovely it is not the actual physical dentistry that is stressful but the politics red tape ad the other 5% of patients that just reading their name is enough to induce a migraine
I'm fine even enjoyed treating the nervous and talking to them, maybe I would like counselling so many patients needed it so many had problems because of grinding teeth caused by stress that no amoumt of dentistry would fix; only advice, some simple like a money management program debt help or CAP some it was carers responsibilities that would never go away and being often less well educated were unable to advocate for help diagnosis in the way many middle class mumsnetters can; nightguards are just symptom management at best I could have provided a social worker counsellor with a full book of clients each week

There is a market for being a dentist who counsels other dentists! I’ve paid for a bit of talking therapy in the last year with a counsellor who specialises in Dentists.
My latest is a woman whose F/F are 3 years old and have brown tea stains on the palatal surfaces. Apparently this means they are substandard quality!

it's interesting to hear from other dentists, their experiences etc. i wonder if there's anything parallel to dentistry i could do. the counselling sounds good. did you find it helpful valleyofthehorses? i do think though that in the uk dentists are really not respected as much as in other countries and there is a huge public misconception of greedy dentists etc etc. doesn't help with morale. especially when there are days when every patient comes in with "i hate dentists"

in most countries in Europe and USA Canada Israel Japan etc dentists are viewed like doctors, there no- one thinks we do the job to hurt people but rather to cure them of the pain they already have.

Which 95% of the time is self inflicted, you do not catch toothache or gum disease from other people, the vast majority of the time we cure the pain within an hour or two, I would say less than 5% of our time is spent treating trauma and defects to teeth that are genetic/environmental
The vast majority of people spend far more money at the hairdressers than the dentist
I agree dental injections are not absolutely painless but they do not hurt any more than blood tests or a tetanus injection, root canal is time consuming but should be pain free after the injection it is a bit like childbirth stories you are just not allowed to say well actually they extracted my tooth in less than a minute and it was fine within 2 days
as on average it takes much longer to make a tooth numb than it does to extract it ( not including fractured roots)
@valley of course and I'm sure the fact that she has a non existent lower ridge is nothing to do with why her -/f moves but everything to do with the shoddy plate!!!!!

Hello everyone,

I am a dental student, having some doubts about the whole career purely because of what some of you have mentioned. I totally agree about how difficult patients can be, and the amount of stress this can cause.

Would any of you be able to clarify- is it generally difficult to get a place in a specialism pathway? Eg something like pathology?

@catlovingdoctor
What year are you?
Have you thought of dental public health-no patient contact there either.