Cracked tooth - is the dentist trying to fob me off?

[sunshinefordays]

I had a baby in September last year and am still currently entitled to free dental treatment from the NHS with the MatB1 form.

This year I have been getting pain in a molar tooth that has worsened as time has gone on, and booked three separate dental appointments over the course of about 8 months, each of which were cancelled last minute due to the dentist self isolating.

I eventually managed to get one this week and was told I have a cracked tooth (due to grinding my teeth at night). The dentist discovered I had the Mat B1 form and said I could have a mouth guard made and try that for 2-3 months before deciding if I need a crown, or potentially root canal or tooth extraction.

If I wait that long I will no longer be eligible for the free dental treatment. I feel frustrated as if I had been seen when I first booked the appointments it might not have come to this. Is it common to just use a mouth guard as treatment for a cracked tooth, or should I push for having a crown fitted? The pain has been getting worse.

Many thanks to anyone with any more knowledge in this area than me!

I had a cracked tooth from grinding that turned into needing a root canal. I'd say push for treatment and say you want it sorted ASAP especially as it's causing u pain.

I don't understand how a mouthguard can cure a cracked tooth.
Has the tooth been x rayed?
I had pain and jaw problems for over a year, dentist kept fobbing me off with advice on TMJ exercises and and saying my teeth were fine. Eventually had an X-ray and a molar was cracked lengthways and had to be removed, also some of the bone which was infected.

I’d advise wearing a mouth guard at night to prevent further damage from teeth grinding but it’s not going to repair any damage already done. I’d also push for treatment now.

I have mouthguard to prevent tooth grinding
It will help to control that for you but it will not sort your cracked tooth
You've got 2 issues that need addressed separately

If you have the guard made under the NHS as a band 3 treatment you would be able to have further treatment within 2 months under the 2 month rule.

Cracked tooth is difficult to treat. Depends on where the crack is, how severe etc

Sometimes a cracked tooth can settle on its own with no treatment. Sometimes it needs a simple filling. Sometimes a crown and a root canal.

A biteguard will prevent grinding and further damage at night, you should get one of these regardless. It may give time for the tooth to settle on its own. I wouldn't jump straight in with a crown for a cracked tooth, as this involves taking away a lot of healthy tooth tissue that will shorten the life of the tooth. If probably do a filling and a bite guard and see if it settles. If not then I'd consider a crown

Any free dental care on the nhs is like finding rocking horse shit.
I had a tooth damaged by my dentist a few years ago. The damage was denied and I'm still in pain with it.
While I was on maternity leave the pain was horrendous. I booked an appointment and guess what - my teeth were perfect apparently. As soon as my free dental care was over I needed a crown and several fillings for those same perfect teeth.
They'll quite happily leave you in pain so you don't get free care.

The mouth guard will cost you (and the dentist) significantly more than treatment for the tooth will. The mouth guard is in the highest banding. A filling is actually pretty cheap if that’s what you reckon you’ll need

could you try another dentist, or do you have to stay with that one.

@PissedOffNeighbour22s The dentist makes the same money whether the patient pays or not. All patient fees go back into the NHS and then the NHS pays the practice for the amount of dental work it has done.

So there's literally no reason for the dentist to not want to work on someone who's exempt. Why would they not want you to get free care? You are talking out of your arse

@DontLookEthel thanks for responding - yes they did an Xray and couldn't see a crack but said they were sure there was one - I think not very big at the moment.

@SundayGirl86 @latissimusdorsi- thank you - yes they did fit me for a mouthguard and I will wear it very diligently when I receive it!

@MillyMollyMardy - thank you for replying - I don't really understand how the landings work - they gave me another follow up appointment in October, but I presume I would then be paying for all the treatment I might then need as it would be after my baby turns 1. I'm not against paying for treatment, but if I could be entitled to it for free now then I'd like to try and make use of it!

@TheOrangeSharked - thank you this is really helpful - I don't think the dentist explained this very well to me. Are you a dentist? I didn't know that about having a crown done.

Are you sure I won't make whatever treatment I might then need more serious by not having the crown done? I was worried that by not having a crown now I would then end up making it worse and needing root canal or a tooth extraction rather than taking action now with a crown to try and avoid this - is that not the case? Would a filling help?

@YerAWizardHarry - thank you I had no idea they were so pricey! They did fit me for one so I am incredibly grateful for that.

@alexdgr8 - I am an NHS patient at this dentist and all the other local dentists no longer accept NHS patients, so I am quite keen to stay with them.

@TheOrangeSharked also if you are a dentist or work in dentistry then I didn't mean to come across as rude about the dentist I saw - I just didn't feel I had enough information about the implications of the cracked tooth and what treatment would be best, and as a patient that left me feeling pretty vulnerable and anxious about my tooth needing to be pulled out in a few months' time. I'm really grateful for the insight you have given and the rationale for starting off with just a mouth guard. I wish they had explained it better to me at my appointment.

@TheOrangeSharked I queried on my OP about trying to delay my treatment due to the MatB1 as the dentist didn't seem very pleased that I had one. Not sure why that would be.

There is usually a protocol with a cracked tooth, so trying different things to see what the tooth responds to.
The problem is there is no single treatment that works for all cracked teeth. The simplest management is adjusting a tooth or the opposite tooth to reduce the forces and this works for many teeth.
A bite guard will protect the tooth from stresses and reduce the risk of a crack worsening it can also give an irritated nerve a chance to heal.
If the easing or guard doesn't help the next stage is changing a filling, a root canal treatment may be needed if the nerve doesn't calm down and a crown is a last resort but all of these things may not work as cracks can run down teeth into the roots and these can't be fixed. Then the final management is extraction.
Cracked teeth are not straighforward to manage and each tooth behaves differently but as the others have said the dentist gets paid the same on the NHS whether you are exempt or not so this won't be affecting their advice. More likely the receptionist hadn't put your exemption on the system so they would have had to redo your treatment plan on the Dental software when you said you had the MatB1 hence the not appearing pleased you had one.