Asked for Dental NHS Scale and Polish.Told "Go to Hygienist at £25 extra"

boozercruiser

welshdent wrote: »

Booze the anti biotic cover isn't really an opinion we have it's the guidelines we are given by nice.

HI welshdent. Yes i understand that. It just goes to show though, not every Dentist strickly follows that particular guidance:)

brook2jack

If they don't and something goes wrong eg an anaphylactic reaction they will be hung out to dry not following guidance. There is very little difference in the bacterial load caused by eating , brushing teeth with inflammed gums and having a scale and polish or tooth extraction.

The guidance follows many years of dentists being unhappy with the previous nonsensical antibiotic cover regime and by the fact you have a far higher risk of dying from a reaction to the high antibiotic dose than from endocarditis. Each and every time you have antibiotics you run the risk of developing an allergy.

It is not a dentists personal choice it is best practice and advised not to prescribe high dose antibiotics like this any more and has been for several years in the UK.

boozercruiser

brook2jack wrote: »

If they don't and something goes wrong eg an anaphylactic reaction they will be hung out to dry not following guidance. There is very little difference in the bacterial load caused by eating , brushing teeth with inflammed gums and having a scale and polish or tooth extraction.

The guidance follows many years of dentists being unhappy with the previous nonsensical antibiotic cover regime and by the fact you have a far higher risk of dying from a reaction to the high antibiotic dose than from endocarditis. Each and every time you have antibiotics you run the risk of developing an allergy.

It is not a dentists personal choice it is best practice and advised not to prescribe high dose antibiotics like this any more and has been for several years in the UK.

To tell you the truth at yesterday check up I hadn't even thought about the Antibiotic question. I had filled in my heath sheet as one does, and she mentioned it to me that I should have the Antibiotic.

When I mentioned the Nice guidelines she said that I could have the choice of Antibiotic or not. Then because I had not had the Antibiotic she said that she wouldn't give me a particularly deep Scale and Polish but just a very light one where she used a drill to go slightly in between teeth and then a rotating rubber one just lightly on the surface.

Right now I am alive and typing this out, so the visit to the Dentist went well.

The Dentist 2 years ago at Dolgellau also said that he gave his patients the choice.

It seems pretty obvious to me that even Dentists themselves have different opinions in respect of the use of Antibiotics.....Nice guidelines or no Nice Guidlines!:)

Toothsmith

Different countries have different recommendations Booze.

It might well be different in Portugal, and yesterday's dentist isn't up to speed with every single difference in this country yet (There will be loads!)

But - if anything did happen in regard to the Ab cover, she would be in quite deep poo!

Your dentist from 'years ago' would probably have been operating when the guidelines were different (It's only been a no-no for about 3-4 years. Before that the instances which required Abs had been coming down and down for quite a few years (When I qualified abs were prescribed even if there was a hint of a heart murmur, or even if people had had rhumatic fever, which is a disease that leaves a % of sufferers with a heart murmur. We also gave them if a patient had an artificial joint).

The guidance is now that they should not be given at all for this reason. (There are a few conditions which still need Ab cover, but these are not heart related).

jugglebug

Incidentally there are a few research papers coming out now looking at how the incidence of heart problems has changed since the massive drop in antibiotic prescription brought about by nice.. If the abs were necessary you would expect The rate of heart issues would have risen. But that doesn't seem to be The case.

brook2jack

The important issue here is he a clinician does not think a particular treatment is appropriate , be it prescribing antibiotics, or cutting down front teeth for veneers, even if the patient wants it it is unethical to give a patient what they want eg antibiotics if best practice and advice is not to. Unfortunately colleagues from abroad are not always aware of guidelines and younger colleagues are not always confident enough to stick to guidelines when confronted with a person who is not aware of the good reasons for the change or consultants who are not dentally aware.

boozercruiser

Hello. I was wondering if anyone can give me any advice? Though it's a bit off piste to the usual stuff in this thread!

3rd August 2011.....(From my previous post)...........

'Because I was getting a bit of soreness around the 'Pre Molar Tooth' I went to see a new temporary Lady Dentist (From Portugal this time) we have here at Machynlleth (West Wales) after
previously being seen at Newtown.

She asked me what was the matter...she had a good look, asked me where the soreness was and took an X Ray. She said that the tooth was fine, that there was a little sign of a bit of root next to the Pre Molar and thought that I had bitten on something hard and that had kicked the soreness off. She thought it would improve over a few days, but to come back if there was any further deterioration or concern'.

7th August 2011.

I am hoping that my friends here can perhaps give me some advice? As per above that particular tooth and gum area is still giving me some ache. Not as severe as the usual tooth ache but very sore in and out nevertheless. Occasionally I am taking an Ibobufren and that helps. The thing is also I cannot try and eat using the area around that Pre Molar as biting on it is really very painful. Even just clenching my teeth hurts.

The Dentist said that on X Ray the tooth looked fine and there didn't seem to be any infection, which puzzles me seeing the pain I have, and had when she pushed up into the tooth.
I appreciate how difficult it is to give any sort of thoughts in respect of what may be going on under this circumstance but can anyone try?

I think I may have to go back and see her early in the week if things don't improve but I would like to avoid that if I can. The Dentist thought it would improve given a few days...but now I am not so sure.

Thanks

Boozercruiser.

brook2jack

Go to see your dentist. We can't tell anything without seeing you or your xrays. X rays also don't tell the whole story and are only a 2d representation in black and White of a snap shot in time of a 3d part of your body. Go back.

boozercruiser

brook2jack wrote: »

Go to see your dentist. We can't tell anything without seeing you or your xrays. X rays also don't tell the whole story and are only a 2d representation in black and White of a snap shot in time of a 3d part of your body. Go back.

O.K. brook2jack, thanks for that. I will see how it goes in the next couple of days as it seems to be a little better this morning.

This has been going on for a couple of weeks now on and off to varying degrees. Sometimes I think "Oh! that's all right now", only for the ache to return.

FulhamRd

Hi all,

Probably someone could help me here with an advice:

I went to see my dentist for a check-up and a scale& polish.
The dentist did the examination on the NHS, however, he said that full scaling and polishing can only be done for an extra 55 quid. According to what he said, the NHS covers only light scaling and polishing of the front teeth? Is he right or he's just trying to get extra money out of me?

I've checked the NHS site: it does list scaling and polishing among services covered by Band 1, but unfortunately, it doesn't specify whether this treatment is light or full.

Any info on that will be much appreciated!