Dentist complaints

[trinnylilac]

Hi Can anyone help.

I have been refered to a clinic to have a tooth removed under sedation as too scared to have done with normal dentist

I then mentioned to a friend of mine where I was going and she said its not the one at W**** Road is it. When I said yes she then went on to say that her neice has had problems there when being given the wrong amount of aneasthetic ( ended up in A&E )and this particular clinic has been in the local paper a few times with complaints .

I have looked at the newspaper website but its a local paper and it doesn't have archives online . Can anyone tell me if there is anywhere I can find out what complaints a clinic has held against it. My friend is not the type to exaggerate. Now really scared .

[Toothsmith]

The local PCT should have records of complaints against any practices, but I'm not sure how available they would be. Likewise with the General Dental Council, although all complaints will be logged against against individual dentists rather than a particular building.

Bear in mind that if somewhere sets itself up as a referral place for the highly nervous patient, then it will be highly nervous patients that go there. (Obviously enough!)

Really nervous patients are funny creatures. They arrive at a practice in a really hightened state of anxiety. They have bucketloads of adrenaline pumping around their system, and heightened pain thresholds just ready to leap out of the chair at the slightest vibration.

'Normal' doses of sedatives can sometimes have little effect.

A dentist coughing at the wrong time can lead to a panic attack.

A racing heart can be interpreted by a nervous patient as a heart attack, leading to a panic attack, leading to a right old state.

Nervous patients are also more likely to make a complaint, as a way of avoiding facing their own dental issues.

So in short, it doesn't surprise me that a clinic specialising in treating nervous patients has a higher incidence than normal of ambulances being called or patients complaining. It's the nature of the people they deal with.

researching this too much will not do your own stress levels much good, and make you more likely to be one of the ones carried gibbering from the room!

This is the 21st century. Dentistry is not what it once was. Chill out a bit. And very best of luck to you!!

[trinnylilac]

Thanks very much for getting back to me.. My normal dentist is lovely and with him I am able to tolerate fillings and now only two to go untill all done .. Only this blooming dodgy tooth needs to come out also..
The one issue I know of at this clinic is that one of the patients was firstly not given enough sedative and then too much with resulted in the trip to hospital.. not sure of other complaints ....
It is reassuring that you mention the reason why there may be more complaints at this one due to the type of patient they get..