I wanna find a new NHS dentist

Toothsmith

Denplan website won't give any prices, because dentists set their own prices, and there are 5 different fee categories depending on your likely need.

It's only of relevance as well if your dentist does Denplan. There are several other practice based schemes. If your dentist has told you about Denplan he should have told you the cost to you as well.

P.S.

Just remember all the lovely, technically advanced bombs that your taxes pay for, and all those overbudget computer systems that never work.

You get plenty for your taxes! These little minor things like decent health care would just be an extravagant waste of resources.

teethrule

i am a future dentist, and happened to find this post, and reading all these comments is worrying and upseting. Personally, i think it is awful how there is a lack of NHS dentists and have always felt that i wanted to do this... after reading this you can understand why dentists don't want to. and all the comments about dentists and how much bloody money they earn. you can't just do the job for the money, those who do will suffer and it might be a reason why dentists are mean't to have the highest suicide rate (don't quote me on that) as for the outgoings of a practice (around £1500 a month i think i read) ... scary....

People who moan about how much dentists earn... would you want to do it? would you like to train for 5 years...it is not an easy course. if you think it's money easily earnt.... why don't you go and do it?! It's not an easy job, not many people want to do it, i will have studyied basically 11 years of my life to get where i am eventually, but i really want to do it and on top of that i don't want to be worrying financially... when i've got patients to worry about and HUGE loans to pay off.

I do want to work for the NHS and i want to be respected, if the NHS service wasn't so abused i think dentists would want to work for the NHS (there are obviously the odd few of us, who really are in it for the money and do carry out poor treatment and so on... If i was on the interview panel at universities i could tell who they are and not let them in... well i reckon i could), you must get so much hassle if it causes you to want to go private. Can't understand why dentists can't do NHS and private...and those patients who do abuse the system and cost time and money... could be told not to or they will get "struck off" NHS care and have to pay private (acts as a deterant). Patients who make the effort with there teeth, do ring and cancel if there is a problem (rather than just not turn up) and so on can the have NHS treatment. All dentists should be made to see children.... if a child can't get to the dentist god help us. Dentists could then work privately aswell in doing cosmetic procedures, in order to keep higher earnings.

loopy_lou_6

Hi, ive been reading hrough this thread and have found it really helpful. I have been waiting for NHS dentist for 5 months, am on local pct list. Fingers crossed. Anyway i wondered if there are any expert dentists out there who could give me some advice about cosmetic dentistry? I have been wanting to get my upper front teeth sorted out for years. They are crooked, and i am very self conscious about them. I went for a consultation at a dentist in manchester and they quoted me £10,000 for 8 veneers at the front top, i obviously nearly had a heart attack on the spot. I then did some research on the net and found that going down to london would be a lot cheaper although a lot more hassle.About £5,000 from very reputable dentists, who do 'celebrities'. Anyway to cut a long story short, I have been waiting that long for a dentist i decided to book a one off scale and polish private apointment at a local dentist. While i was there i noticed they do cosmetic dentistry, i made an enquiry, and one of the receptionists there haed actually had some treatment done and showed me , i was really impressed! but they werent veneers they were 'composite resin' something. not sure of terminology. but as opposed to veneers they are less invasive, but dont last as long? what is the difference between the two? advantages and disadvantages? and how do i know a good cosmetic dentist from a not so good one.I just dont know what my course of action should be, and dont want to end up with false looking teeth on the cheap, I would rather fork out the cash and get a good result, but obviously if this dentist could do it for be at a good price i will be well chuffed. I have been wanting to have this done for so long now but am really scared of ending up wishing i hadnt bothered. thanks in advance for any advice anyone can give me x

Toothsmith

I would avoid places who say they do 'celebrities'. If they really did top 'A' listers they wouldn't need to advertise! Perhaps Chris Biggins once had a clean & polish there!!

Unless you are a 'top' movie star whose smile will be shot in close up and each tooth will be 5ft long when seen on a movie screen, I would think spnding a fortune on each veneer is a bit OTT.

For an average person, just wanting an improvement, Composite resin veneers done by a decent 'high street' dentist who has time to spend on them (I.e. not a waiting room full of patients he has to get through in order to make a living on the NHS) will be an ideal solution. It is also very gentle to your own teeth, and although it will need redoing every so often, it will not damage the teeth in the process, then if you ever win the lottery you can still have the £10000 movie star veneers!

If you are happy with the other aspects of the practice you went to visit when you saw the composite veneers, I would go there. I would also scrub your name off the NHS waiting list and use that place for all your treatment. It may be a bit dearer, but you only have one set of teeth, and you should find somewhere to look after them. Not somewhere cheap.

loopy_lou_6

OOOOOH im so excited that i got a reply! I have been agonising about this for ages. thankyou so much, so how often will i have to get them redone? Actually this also factors in in reference to getting veneers. As i understand it, once you have veneers, because they actually take a bit off your tooth you always have to have them done again when they start to fail. With the composite resin veneers you can have them removed and they hvnt damaged your teeth. So when im 70 and am no longer so worried about my appearance(I plan on being a fat happy granny) ino longer have to keep up with the maintenance. But I also understand that the composite resin veneers dont last as long as the porcelain ones. And while im on the subject of dentistry what are peoples opinions about mercury fillings? should i just dismiss all the horror stories as scaremongering or are they dangerous? I ask more for my 11 year old daughter, who unfortunately has had to have one filling about 2 years ago(we had a well meaning indulgent childminder who unbeknowst to us was feeding her sweets and fizzy pop before she went to school!I was heartbroken as ive been fanatical about her teeth)once again, thanks toothsmith you really have put my mind at rest and now i feel soo excited about getting my teeth done at last!

Toothsmith

I can't say how often they will need to be redone. That depends on so many factors. But I would say that if you smoke, don't bother getting it done! They won't last very long at all. It's also not much good if you bite your nails. They will chip off vey quickly if you do that.

Your dentist should go through all this with you though. Also, it's not suitable for everybody, so don't get your hopes up until you've seen the dentist.

Amalgam fillings are no more dangerous than any other fillings. Even the white stuff has nasty chemicals in it - that includes the stuff used for your resin veneers!!!. It's just that they don't make the news so much! We don't have a filling material that contains only chemicals proved to be harmless in any concentration in all situations. But then I doubt there are many products in your kitchen cupboard that you could say were safe in that respect too!

As for kids, I tend not to use amalgam whenever possible, as I feel the white materials mean I can fix the tooth with a smaller hole. This is not strictly allowed on the NHS though, and it's only because the rest of the practice is private that I can afford to do that for the kids. Come the new dental contract in April 06 and this will be banned, this is why I am privatising kids as well at the moment. I'm not prepred to do old fashioned dentistry just to make it fit a socialist ideal!

silvercar

Amalgam contains mercury - a known poison. Also with amalgam fillings, decay can occur between the filling and the tooth: this is something much less likely to occur with white fillings.

Ask dentists whether amalgam is safe and they will not be generally not be drawn, but talk about the benefits of looking after your teeth and gums. Ask neurologists about mercury and you are advised to stay well clear!

I told my dentist that I didn't want any amalgam fillings. He thought I was being over sensitive on the subject but is quite happy to provide white fillings in situations where he feels an amalgam will do the job but I want to avoid mercury. We agree to disagree, but it doesn't affect the treatment I get (I hope!).

Toothsmith

silvercar wrote:

Amalgam contains mercury - a known poison.

They all come out of the woodwork now!!

YES Amalgam contains mercury, it is a plot by the whole of the dental profession to POISON THE WORLD HAHAHAHAHA!

Trouble is, over the past 140 years that amalgam has been around, it has been put into the mouths of a fair percentage of the worlds population and death rates around the world continue to fall! We are not very good at wiping out humanity I'm afraid!

Composite filling contains phenol polymers and organic resins that you really wouldn't want to eat. This does not make such a good headline though, as BIS GMA is not as well known as mercury. Both are perfectly OK for the job of a filling material though

silvercar wrote:

Also with amalgam fillings, decay can occur between the filling and the tooth: this is something much less likely to occur with white fillings.

This is sheer claptrap, and the opposite is true. White filling shrinks slightly on setting, which puts stress at it's edges which makes it far more likely to leak and for decay to start. This is not so much of a problem if the cavity has been designed for white filling in the first place as you can adapt the cavity to suit the material. It is much more of a problem when putting white filling into holes designed for amalgam though.

silvercar wrote:

Ask dentists whether amalgam is safe and they will not be generally not be drawn.

Ask a patient what they mean by 'safe' and they generally haven't got a clue! Is amalgam 'safer' than coming to the dentist in a car? - yes. Is it safer than living under high voltage electricity cables? Most probably. Is it safer than any other filling material we have? - About the same. Is it safer than squirting underarm deodourant into your pits every day?- Yes. Is it safer than Smoking? - Definitly. Is it safer than living in a padded cell in an underground bunker with a purified air supply and a controlled, nutritionally balanced organic diet, prepard by someone else so you never face the dangers of a kitchen, no background radiation, and no electromagnetic sources (eg televisions) for 20 miles. - NO

Tell me what you mean by safe, Silvercar, and what level of risk you are prepared to take in your life, and I will tell you whether amalgam fits in with your lifestyle or not. However, as you have diced with death and had white fillings done, I would suggest that you are a bit of a risk taker really!

silvercar wrote:

Ask neurologists about mercury and you are advised to stay well clear!

I'd agree with that.

Ask a chemist about sodium and they'd not recommend you to keep some in the cupboard. Ask about Chlorine and they would not want it in your house either. Combine them however, and you've got something quite safe to put on your chips!! (Safe apart from the kidney problems - but hey what is 'safe'?!) It's the same with amalgam. Mercury is combined with other metals into something far mor stable, and far less toxic than elemental mercury.

What about hydrogen and oxygen? The most explosive of gasses when in elemental form. Combine them, and we've got a life necessity. (Water for the non chemists)

silvercar wrote:

I told my dentist that I didn't want any amalgam fillings. He thought I was being over sensitive on the subject but is quite happy to provide white fillings in situations where he feels an amalgam will do the job but I want to avoid mercury. We agree to disagree, but it doesn't affect the treatment I get (I hope!).

I'm sure he was. It can be a nice little earner. It is my bet that the whole MERCURY-POISON bit was invented by a dentist. When you think about it, who else has anything to gain by it apart from dentists? And the white filling manufacturers.

We have a good tooth filling material that, done well, can last for years and years. But it contains mercury. The general public have heard of this stuff, and know it's poisonous.

Prof X has invented a white filling material. It can look great, but doesn't last as long, so nobody apart from filmstars and popstars want it. It has a few nasty chemicals in it, but nobody's ever heard of them, and it's not caused anybody any harm when it was tested, so it's probably OK.

Here's an idea! Lets claim that amalgam is BAD for people! Set up a few internet sites, call them MERCURY fillings rather than silver fillings, Bob's your uncle! There are plenty of gullible people out there, and here's the best bit - dentists who say amalgam is just as safe as anything else will look to be in on some conspiracy, whereas those that say amalgam is really really bad and poisonous will be the good guys and make a shedload of money!

This however is supposed to be a moneysaving website. :rolleyes:

silvercar

Toothsmith wrote:

Composite filling contains phenol polymers and organic resins that you really wouldn't want to eat.

Nobody (deliberately) eats fillings, white or amalgam. Its the mercury vapours that you have no choice but to absorb, if you have amalgam fillings.

Toothsmith wrote:

It can look great, but doesn't last as long, so nobody apart from filmstars and popstars want it.

Lots of people have white fillings. I don't see the queues of people asking for their fillings to be changed from white to amalgam. Why does the NHS refuse to fund white crowns for back teeth? Because they know people will pay for white crowns.

Toothsmith wrote:

This however is supposed to be a moneysaving website. :rolleyes:

Saving money is good, but not at the expense of our health and the cheapest option is not always the best.

If you think there is a conspiracy between dentists and white filling manufacturers, the suggestion is that there are a hell of a lot of dentists engaged in dubious practices.

Toothsmith

Just tell me what you think 'safe' is Silvercar?

Do you think white fillings are 'safe'?

What do you think amalgam fillings are more dangerous than?