Talk to the CQC about dental care and you could win £100 for your favourite charity NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

We've been asked by the Care Quality Commission to find out about Mumsnetters' opinions and experiences of dental care and dentists.

The Care Quality Commission say: "We believe passionately that everyone in our society deserves safe, high quality, accessible dental care. To help ensure dental services (high street dentists and emergency out of hours services) are safe, effective, caring, responsive to people’s needs and well-led, we are changing the way we regulate, inspect and rate dental care.

During an inspection, we look at premises, systems and processes, dental records and observe care being given. We also speak to patients and dental staff, to find out what they think about services being provided and identify any concerns, or best practice.

We want to hear your views on what good dental care looks like for you and your family, to help us decide which key areas we should focus on during our new style inspections, which will be finalised by April 2015."

So, what does good dental care look like for you? What is more important to you, in terms of dental care? Have you had any particularly good experiences of dental care in the past few years? Or have you had any particularly bad experiences? What would you like the CQC to look for when inspecting dental services? Is there anything in particular that you think could be done to improve dental care in general?

Whatever your experiences have been, the CQC would love to hear about them.

Everyone who adds a comment to this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will receive a £100 donation to the charity of their choice.

Thanks,
MNHQ

PS - For more information on what the CQC look for during dental inspections, you can download their draft dental care service handbook here.
You can also take part in their online consultation here, if you have more in-depth comments you want to share with them. Closing dates for the consultation is 23 January 2015, so please leave your comments here and the CQC incorporate your feedback when finalising how they inspect dental services.

I am very happy with our NHS dentist, we have been with them for about 25 years and have always had good care. between us we have all had major dentistry and in some cases have been referred to hospital which has also been a positive experience. The only issue I have with with going to the dentist is the cost.

I had an awful time as a chid which has put me off the dentist for life - I can just remember the cigar breath in my face and the brown fingers going into my mouth (the days before gloves) + my dentist didn't believe in using injections and just happily drilled away.

I have had to try and get over this and walk in there for the sake of the family, they go but I still don't unless I'm in pain.

I've been going to the same nhs dentist surgery for as long as I can remember, they are pretty good, appointments can be very far in advance, but recently I needed an emergency appointment and I got one quite quickly. I have been taking my 2.5 yr old for the last year or so, she hates it, she refuses to open her mouth, but at least she's not screaming in his face like before!

ihlee62 slowly slowly catches monkey..! She'll get there in the end, nice one for persevering though!

Lucky enough to come into contact with really nice dentists. No quibbles except when I switched they couldn't transfer over any x-rays or notes as they 'weren't available' so had to start from scratch.

Shop around as it were. My nearest NHS dentist was really rough with me, but the one a bit further away was incredible

I have an NHS dentist and theyre great. Have to wait a little while for appointments but thats to be expected, I think. The clinic is clean, staff are always polite and helpful and I dont feel they push unwanted products or treatments on me.

I have total dentist phobia and have worked really hard not to pass it on to the children but unfortunately our lovely lady dentist who was fantastic with the children, made sure they were relaxed and comfortable, went on maternity leave and didn't come back. Her replacement was a young man who 1) drilled my (then) six year old daughters tooth without aneasthetic and caused pain in that entire region of her mouth, damaging the tooth that was coming through instead of just letting it push the damaged baby tooth out (thus leading to absolute terror of dentist) filled a tooth in my 10 year olds mouth and two weeks later at a routine check up didn't even notice that she'd lost the filling (two days previous) and therefore that there was a cavity that needed filling. We're currently looking for a good dentist although as my children seem to have an alarming number of extra teeth coming through we will probably be referred to the orthodentist anyway. My biggest annoyance is the sudden decision to charge 35 for a polish (this has ALWAYS been free for chilren in the past) and the fact that they do not coat adult teeth for additional protection anymore. These two factors should be covered for children by the NHS as they are probably the two factors most likely to help them keep their teeth healthy.

More of a set procedure when checking childrens teeth. My dentist first told me children needed check ups from 3 and a half then age 1. Not much as checked by one dentist and then another gave my son more of a through check. I would like it if he dentist gave a bit of an educational talk to kids - like the topsy and tim book where they go home with a book on looking after their teeth. My children would take this kind of thing seriously from a professional.

Our dentist is very good with our son we have no comcearns at all about the treatment he gives.

I'm very happy with the care received for all my family. We are quite fortunate I think in that there is always openings in our NHS provider.

first and foremost is plenty of NHS dentists and then to keep the prices at a realistic level for the normal working family
i want a dentist that is well trained and very comfortable with children and nervous patients
clean surgeries and sterilised equipment and easy to get in and out of as alot of dentists are difficult for disabled people to attend

I used to go NHS but the service was awful! The staff were rude and unhelpful to all of the family. My local private practice is much better. Great customer service and treatments professional.

I have a very good dentist, the only problem is the time it takes to see him, so if I have to rearrange my appointment (made in advance at the last visit), I may well have to wait another 2/3/4 months for the new appointment.

My dental practice was originally nhs but changed over to private about ten years ago. Being a bit of a wuss and therefore reluctant to change to a new dentist when the one I have is fabulous both in his skill and manner, I now pay into a dental plan each month.
I know that I have the luxury of being able to pay privately for dental care for our family but I believe that our teeth are so important that I am willing to pay.
We also paid privately for our teenagers orthodontic work as the local nhs service was extremely poor. I used inheritance money to do this.
I my line of work I see people who are not able to pay for dental care and it can be quite shocking when seeing the state of their teeth or lack of teeth. There should be someway of funding nhs dental care which focuses on preventative care and not just emergency care for those people who struggle to finance dental care.

We have a great family dentist and have no complaints whatsoever about the practice. Unlike our GP surgery when you tend to see a different GP each time you visit, I feel we've built more of a rapport with the dentist and like the continuity. My daughters actually enjoy their dental appointments, and I think this is because of the kind, interested nature of the dentist. Luckily ours is an NHS practice - I hope this long continues.

We moved to a new area recently, at around the same that I fell pregnant (so qualifying for free dental care). At the nearest NHS surgery, I was told the waiting list was 8 months! I ended up having to register with a practice 25 minutes drive away (we live on the edge of a big city, there are at least 30-40 dental practices closer to us but NONE of them take new nhs patients). I have not been particularly impressed with my treatment. The fillings I had replaced have been rough and don't feel nearly as secure or well fitted as the similar fillings I had done privately a few years ago. I'm pretty skint but am seriously considering saving what little I can to try and see a private dentist as I think I need some more fillings replaced (pregnancy has wrecked my teeth!) and want a better job done this time.

I used to go to a private dentist who was great, but unfortunately due to inability to afford his treatment moved to a local NHS dental practice. (I live in central Scotland) I ended up being extremely unhappy with the treatment received at the practice, I lost a couple of teeth as a result of cost cutting and X rays not being taken and I ended up putting in a complaint to the NHS about the practice owner. However it appears that any complaints against a dental practice in Scotland (not sure if the rest of the UK has similar regulations) are investigated by the practice themselves and in this case, the owner investigated the complaint against himself. Needless to say, nothing much happened apart from the fact that I received a long winded rambling inaccurate letter from him repudiating all my concerns.
I've now moved to another NHS practice which seems fine. However I will never forget sitting in the dentists chair at the dodgy practice during a course of root canal treatment and being told by the practice owner "I'm not going to anaesthetise you for this part of the treatment as it helps me work better......"

We are lucky to have an NHS dentist, and the practice is just round the corner so I can get there easily (mobility problems). We moved here 9 years ago, and had no dentist, there was no nhs dentist taking on patients at the time.

I am on medication for neuropathic pain, and a disadvantage is that I am unaware of tooth ache until it becomes very bad. This happened soon after we moved in and I was treated in hospital and had 3 teeth removed, which could have been avoided if I had been able to have a check up. We eventually were allocated a dentist 20 miles away, with no public transport going near it so a long walk - which I can't do; so unless dh could take me in the car I couldn't get there.

DH had an appalling experience with them when they pulled an infected tooth. He ended up hospitalised for 5 days in appalling pain and having a big hole cut in his face to drain the abscess.

Our current dentist practice is great. Our dentist is good, sensitive to my fears (childhood trauma of dentist not using anaesthetic of any kind, drilling willy nilly with gay abandon! He was struck off, but too late to avoid pretty serious trauma to my generation of his patients).

We're very lucky as there's a large NHS practice just down the road and I've been very impressed with me. My children and I see good, professional dentists and I think they deal with the kids really well. The place is clean and welcoming and the phone or text you the day before your appointment which is very handy.

I recently had a gum infection. If I'd have been able to visit my GP I would have been seen the same day, my appointment would have been on time and it would not have cost me any money. Instead I waited over an hour to see the dentist. The stress of find the £18 to pay for it shortened my life by several years. My 18 month old was not happy about straddling me whilst the dentist looked into my mouth and I was concerned about the mix of this and sharp implements in my mouth, as I have nobody that can help me with my child.
I then of course needed to go on another trip to obtain some amoxicillin.
Sadly I have had to return to the dentist to obtain some Metronidazole, which I am allergic to and only the GP is permitted to prescribe the alternative so I ended up there anyway. And then of course back to pharmacy for drugs - which were out of stock!
You try doing all of this with a grumpy 18 month old and on buses that absolutely break the bank.
Which is another point - I can walk to my GP, my dentist is 3 buses away - thats over £18 in bus fares in one day plus I spent pretty much the day travelling.
So far I'm now in debt by over £60 and I'm still waiting for the drugs.

I have a fantastic local dentist now. However, last year I was attending another practice. I was seeing a 3rd different dentist in as many years and as I am dental phobic, I wasn't particularly happy about that. However, the girl seemed okay.

I developed a dental abscess and went to see her. she agreed it was an abscess, but did nothing. I was told i didn't need antibiotics. As she was the expert, I left empty handed. Two days later, i ended up at the emergency dentist, who was appalled that my regular dentist had done nothing. I ended up at my GP for painkillers and was signed off for a week and given further antibiotics, as half my face was swollen up and the swelling was creeping down my neck, as well as up to my eye.

It eventually cleared and just when i was going back to get the tooth seen to, the abscess flared up again. Again, my dentist did nothing and I ended up at the emergency dentist that night.

To cut a long story short, i had 3 re-occurrences of the abscess altogether and only when I transferred to my new dentist did it finally get sorted out once and for all.

the original dentist was completely uninterested in me and as i haunted the surgery in hopes of something being done, she seemed at a loss as well. The dental nurse kept offering her suggestions, which was not reassuring at all. the practice manager was uninterested when i complained.

I think dentists now are much more sympathetic towards patients like me who are dental phobic. I have many problems with my teeth that have not been caused by lack of care, but most likely by genetics and generally, the dentists I have seen have been very caring and done everything they could to put me at my ease.

Hats off to the dental practice where I am now. they are very good indeed, I am glad to say.

I expect a scale and polish as a matter of routine when paying for a check up. I always feel a bit cheated when they just look around my mouth for 5 minutes and that's it (although im obviously pleased it doesn't require follow up work!!)

I have recently taken my 8 month old who has no teeth, but it's nice if the dentist is good with kids.

My dentist is lovely with what he can do, but since the PCT changes his hands are tied with offeirng the basic no frills treatment, but we have a good rapport which is perhaps a blessing. He isn't local but I would prefer to go to him as I trust him implicitly. He also spends some time talking to me about mine and my son's teeth and believes in eduction which I am grateful wrt my son. Reading the other mumnets comments it seems a real patchwork quilt affair what treatment you get too. CQC you have your work cut out if you already didn't know that. I would like MIND as my charity please.