Returned from Hospital with no teeth

[norma1980]

My very elderly dad fell in the early hours and an ambulance took him in.

He was kept in A&E for the day and then dropped home later that day.

The people who dropped him home left him in living room and said he wasn't allowed upstairs without assistance and someone would be there within the hour to help him. No one has attended yet.

He was also returned home without his teeth.

He has no spare pair. No dentist.

I phoned hospital (I don't live in the country) and they said "it happens all the time" (lost teeth) and they can't find them. No idea what happened to them. He definitely went to hospital with them.

I know things happen but I've now a very elderly man who has no teeth and will be on soup for god knows how long.

I've called GP and local dentists and no one can help.

GP told me to call PALS and that's it.

Anyone experience anything similar please?

Christ alive that's bad, your poor father

He's lucky he has you op, sorting all this out for him

My fiend was in hospital last year and the same thing happened. She reported it to PALS so they set an investigation off which sadly all came to nothing. They said as she was of sound mind, she should have taken note of what was done with them. Never mind that she was rushed in and in a massive amount of pain.

They said they had asked her some questions at the time that they potentially went missing (when she went for a camera down the throat) - name, DOB etc, and because she could answer them she was fully aware and should have kept track of her personal belongings. It cost her over £700 to get a replacement, the hospital would accept no liability.

Hopefully your Dad won't get the same result :(

I can see how they would be easily lost but it's so debilitating for a patient's recovery if they can't bloody eat or talk properly! Greater care should be taken of things like hearing aids and teeth.

That's what denture pots are for and the staff should offer help with cleaning them or at least soaking them in water.

It won't help with dentures, but you can buy heating aid tethers. Amazon sells them, as I'm sure hearing aid places would. They clip to clothes. I'd always send DF in to hospital with ones with a neon cord, far less chance of being lost.

So I called 11 dental practices today and none will take on my dad as nhs to get him new dentures. I called the commissioning centre and community dental service now could help

now looking at private dentist at cost I'd £2000. I don't really have that money but will need to find it somewhere

What happens to elderly people who have no one and no money to get teeth? Are they just left?

Short answer is yes.
Over 90% of dentists nationally are not taking new patients on . The reason because many dental treatments will lose the practice money . In the case of dentures the average loss is £40 .
Dentists have long argued for a core contract funded to provide essential, simple treatment only like dentures. Unfortunately nhs dentistry is being left to die out.

Have you thought of getting some publicity about the situation with local media? Our regional news programme (Points West) is always going on about the scarcity of dentists in the area.

@norma1980 IIm sorry to hear about your Dad. Which is your nearest Dental Hospital? If he is mobile and able to get there some dental schools accept referrals for stuff suitable for the students and you can self refer. There is no guarantee of acceptance but it's worth looking.
I would also kick off to Pals about the loss of teeth. It's a real problem in hospitals and care homes. When you sort out a new set for him insist it's named.

Thanks all

I've contacted local MP as I saw that she was writing to a local dentist who had written to all patients on their list telling them they were becoming private.

I'm hoping that someone private can see him quickly.

@MillyMollyMardy thanks but my dad isn't mobile. I was trying to get him a home visit but these have died out too. He wouldn't be fit to wait in any dental hospital. I'm not even sure about getting him to a dentist and into a dentists chair.

It's terrible that this is a really common thing to happen in hospitals and care homes. Sorry this happened to your dad, there isn't a quick fix for a new set from scratch. Could he have an old set knocking about somewhere at home that could make do for now with lots of polygrip?

There should be a service commissioned locally for domiciliary NHS care but many have long waiting lists. If this isn't the local Community Dental Services they may be able to signpost you to the correct service. The most realistic way of getting a new set quickly would be privately. If he has no teeth left of his own he might also be able to see a clinical dental technician if there are any locally - this may be less of a wait than a dentist.

Good luck and I hope you are able to get something sorted for him soon.

@norma1980 that's going to be much harder to sort out if he's not mobile and will struggle to get to a dentist.
I would Google his local community dental services as there is usually a telephone number that you can ask about waiting times although as @Poptart23 says the wait lists can be significant.
I'd also give the care homes local to your Dad a call and see if any of their residents use a Domiciliary dentist. It normally takes at least 4 appointments to make new dentures which again not what you want to hear.

My DSis’s MIL had dementia and was admitted into hospital where they lost her false teeth - she might well have taken them out and put them on the bed where they would have got wrapped up in the bedclothes. My DSis was furious and insisted on looking for them - she said they had a bucket full of dentures, so good luck with finding the right ones - and even worse, a bucket full of lost hearing aids. Her MIL simply managed for the rest of her life without any teeth, because both my DS and the home decided it would be far too traumatic for her MIL to try and find a dentist to get some new ones. It’s awful, but I can see how it happens.
I can’t offer any advice, OP, but I do hope you manage to get something sorted out for your DF.

Your poor dad. I hope you get something sorted for him. As a suggestion, for labelling purposes, in your position I’d order some Stikins and label anything of his that might need to go to hospital with him again. They are sticky name labels that are fairly difficult to peel off more or less anything (stay on after the dishwasher, etc). I use them for anything my kids take to school (clothes, water bottles, etc). Might slightly improve the chances of stuff staying with him in any future hospital stays. I get the staff are busy but something like teeth going missing is just awful.

People get transferred between wards unexpectedly- even late at night. It’s ridiculous that personal belongings aren’t checked when they do a move, this sort of loss happens a lot. And some staff are more bothered than others. My husband was trying to track his aunt’s dentures and glasses, the ward she’d been on swore they hadn’t got them, he spoke to the dementia nurse who marched down there and found them in half an hour - they’d been put in a bag. With her name on!

In my sad experience, yes they are. As I said, my poor aunt died toothless after 10 months. We weren’t able to get her to a dentist (not that we could find one who would do it).

it’s making me cry now just thinking about that.

I do hope you manage to get your dad sorted op

@BitOutOfPractice so so sorry about your auntie - heartbreaking.

Thanks everyone for your advice and good wishes it's much appreciated. If I manage to get him teeth I'll update you again! 🤞

I have found that many hospitals in the UK have very poor systems (if any at all) for keeping patients' belongings safe.

A few years ago now I had experience of a large hospital in Paris. I had fallen and badly broken my arm during a visit to the city and was in a side room on a ward, waiting to go to theatre for surgery.

I was worried about leaving my belongings. I needn't have been though. There was a large locker built securely into the wall of the room which staff put my things into, locked it and then kept the key behind the staff reception until I was brought back from theatre.

It seemed like a good and simple system to me and I have no idea why so many UK hospitals seem to have nothing of that sort. Accidental loss, binning or theft of patients' possessions must surely happen much more than we hear about but the only lockers I have usually seen are those that are on wheels next to beds. Those do obviously have their place, but more secure options are often required too

I'm sorry this has happened to your Dad. I hope you are able to get some new dentures for him so that he can eat more easily and is happier to be seen in public. Yes, I'd pursue for a financial contribution via PALS. Dentures will be expensive but are obviously very necessary and I think hospitals do need to be made to realise that better facilities could and should be made available for the safekeeping of patients belongings.

There can be a number of occasions in hospitals when patients will be unable/unavailable to look after their own stuff (going for surgery, ill and vulnerable, unconscious, disability or injury etc.). So things need to improve from the current extremely patchy and chaotic systems.

It is utterly disgraceful that hospitals don't have decent procedures for keeping important personal belongings with a patient (especially those who may be confused, even if they have capacity).

How hard is it to provide labelled containers for these key items and a note on the board by the bed and in the notes to check they stay with the patient. They are so important to the dignity, independence, and recovery of the patient that it should absolutely be a priority to ensure hearing aids and dentures remain with them. Loss of them should be taken very seriously.

Please challenge the hospital on this and ask them to review procedures. Hammer home the impact on you poor father, he has been badly let down.

It's madness they can't take better care of things. I had surgery recently in a private hospital and there was a lockable drawer in the bedside unit. When I went to theatre the nurse checked I'd put anything valuable in there - my phone and purse - asked about my glasses and whether I needed them. Then we locked the unit and the key was brought to the anaesthetic room with me. I kept my glasses until the last minute, then key and glasses went in a basket, stayed with the nursing team and were there next to me when I came round in recovery. Glasses straight back on again!

Dad went in dentures glasses and hearing aids lost.

Is it really beyond the wit of the nhs for staff to put things like dentures, glasses or hearing aids in a plastic bag with the patients name on? (Usually they print out a sheet of stickers with your details on when you are in hospital)
I fully expect to get answers saying why this is too much to expect of "hard working nurses"....

@DustyMaiden seriously??! To lose all 3 bloody hell

It's not too much to expect at all.

I favour the locker system, properly secured to the wall with key kept at the staff base until the patient is back on the ward and sufficiently compos mentis to be able to care for their stuff themselves. I saw it in a big and very busy Paris hospital. It worked and hardly seemed onerous on staff at all. I didn't have to worry about my things.