NHS Dentistry Patient Information

Toothsmith

If you 'don't trust any of them', then you'll never, by your own admission, find one you truly trust!

What was wrong with the one you saw after the 3 'bad' ones?

There is no one 'right' way to do dentistry.

Different dentists have their own favorite treatments and materials and philosophies about how to deal with patients and the challenges they present.

The more you chop and change about, the more you will experience these differences, which will make you doubt if the way your previous dentist did things was 'right' and give you a sense of distrust.

Then, a different dentist will be different again, and your head will go into a complete spin.

The very best way to find a dentist is by recommendation. Ask a friend/colleague/relation who they go to, why they go there, how long they've been going there and if they are happy.

If they are, it's a fair chance it's a 'good' dentist.

Go and visit the practice yourself, and if you are happy with the place, book an appointment.

Hopefully, the dentist should be able to give you a good explaination of what's going on in your mouth, as well as short term treatment needs and longer term goals.

If you are happy with this, go for it. If not, why not?

Ask yourself why you were unhappy and is it anything that can realistically be addressed? (If you feel something was amis, was it just your predjudices, or was it something real. Why would your friend be so happy to go there for so long?)

If you feel your concerns were real, then start again and look for someone else. If it might just be your attitude, then it is probably time to give someone the benefit of the doubt and get on with building a long lasting relationship.

Also bear in mind that when dealing with people, nothing goes 100% right 100% of the time.

There may well be times, particularly in the early stages before the dentist has got to know you and your teeth that things don't go 100% to plan.

If all you do at these times is run off and look for another dentist, then no dentist will ever really get to know you and your teeth, and you will be setting yourself up for a whole life of unsatisfactory dental experiences.

Break the vicious circle now and find a dentist somebody else trusts, and go for it.

Toothsmith

A joke from a dental journal today

Daily Mail Health Correspondent To Secretary of State for Health

"Mrs Hewitt, can you tell me how many 'F's there are in NHS dentistry?"

" There is no 'F' in NHS dentistry!"

"Can I quote you on that?"



Sorry!!

Toothsmith

From today's Sunday Telegraph

Notice the comment at the end from our beloved Chief Dental Officer.

"The decision as to whether a child receives treatment rests with the orthodontist, and is made on a clinical basis."

Yeah right - after you changed the rules and clinical criteria for who gets paid and who doesn't!!!

Barry Cockroft is now known as 'Comical Barry' within dentistry, after the Iraqi information minister who was telling the media how the Americans were being beaten back as their tanks rolled into Bagdad!

Toothsmith

Yorkshire Post

So - Patients who have to pay NHS dental charges aren't paying enough!

Maybe because for regular patients, who only need the odd thing doing every now and again, it can be cheaper to pay privately for a single filling rather than the £42.40 NHS charge, or £189 for a single crown.

NHS managers are urgently investigating the reasons for the deficit and have been urged to take "corrective action" with dentists to maximise revenue.

This may well include setting cash targets as well as UDA targets for dentists to achieve.

Patients who are exempt from dental charges may well find it harder and harder to be seen, as PCTs target fee paying patients above the less well off patients.

BFG_2

The setting of cash targets would be illegal since it would mean discriminating against people who don't pay.

Toothsmith

It would only be illegal if dentists did it!

If it's the DoH wanting to do it, they just re-write the rules!!

Home_alone_4

Toothsmith wrote:

It would only be illegal if dentists did it!

If it's the DoH wanting to do it, they just re-write the rules!!

You might be surprised at the pressure PCTs are putting on contract holders to meet that shortfall. Then again, perhaps your not.

Toothsmith

Your right - I wouldn't be surprised at all!

zenmaster

NHS or Private? All the same to me.

Toothsmith wrote:

If you 'don't trust any of them', then you'll never, by your own admission, find one you truly trust!

I don't ... and I haven't. I have spent thousands (probably into 5 figures) over the past 20 years or so and my teeth are still carp. I have had work done, undone and done again. So I just stopped going and took the pain.

I hate that my teeth look a mess but another visit would probably cost me at least another £2,500. If I was to gain a Hollywood smile from it then I might, so to speak, bite the bullet. But I won't - I will just have a set of moderately bad teeth instead of very bad teeth.

After I had my first few thousand quids worth of work done I should have signed up for Denplan there and then, but I didn't and now there is no way on earth I would be accepted.

What I find particularly galling is that, as Toothsmith says, you have to pay £70 for an initial visit with xrays to be told that you need £800 worth of work. To get a second opinion/quote for the job you have to go to another dentist and pay another £70. So you are £140 down without so much as a scrape and polish to show for it.

I have considered dental tourism. A friend of mine apparently had 2 fillings and a root canal done whilst on a visit to the Ukraine for just a little under £20. It's a long way to go for a checkup though.

With due respect to Toothsmith and others who sound like they might be dentists I'm afraid that, in my opinion, members of the dental profession stand alongside used car dealers, cowboy builders and estate agents in the roll of honour.

Toothsmith wrote:

No - but when the cement seal goes, anything will bring it off.

This happens from time to time, just get it put back on pretty sharpish.

I've had 2 crowns in my wallet for a couple of years now. They both fell out within a week of each other (more quality workmanship!).

I guess it's too late now? Can I just stick them back in with superglue?

BFG_2

zenmaster wrote:

I guess it's too late now? Can I just stick them back in with superglue?

Of course you can....in the same way that you can incise your own abcess or maybe stitch up that gash in your head or set your own broken finger, if you want.

You can do anything you want to your own body, but most people might suggest that a qualified medical/dental person would be a better solution.