Advice on refund for dental work please

fairsfair

Hi I hope someone out there can help with this issue on behalf of my mum - who is a 'very young' pensioner.

We live in N wales and there are no NHS dentists taking on patients - I have been waiting 5 years.

So my mum decided to treat herself to a new set of upper and lower dentures at a private dentist.

the cost was over £1200. He said he would create a set that would not only be fit for purpose but cosmeticaly enhance her face around the jaw area a little.

When she went back to get them fitted they were very uncomfortable and she didn't like the wa they looked but agreed that it would take time to adjust and get used to them.

It has been over a month now and she has been in pain and had awful mouth ulcers and the teeth do not suit her face at all. She is ashamed to smile, can't talk properly and has not been able to eat anything that is not 'mushy'. The front teeth are too long and she feels goofy.

My mother is very private about having false teeth and is not a confrontational person. Although she has been back to the dentist several times he just makes slight adjustments to the underneath which creates rough patches that make her mouth more sore.

On her last visit this week she tried to make it clear she was not happy at all and wanted a refund -

the dentist said
"some people tolerate pain better than others and she should persevere"
and
"asthetically of course other family members would agree they don't suit her because they are agreeing with what she thinks"

She left upset and feeling sick. She does not want to face him again and says she will have to write off the money and see if she can find someone else to make some more although trust an issue.

any advice on how to proceed would be helpful - she is still in full time employment as she can't afford to retire and I don't think it is fair for her to lose this money.

What are her statutory rights?

Thank you

Regards
Mandy

welshdent

Have they been adjusted to ease where it is rubbing? Something as simple as a dremel and a grinding acrylic bur can work wonders when they rub.

welshdent

sorry I see it HAS been eased ... maybe it needs more of an ease. Pressure indicating paste is very good for highlighting areas that are rubbing or even something called a soft reline which can help cushion it. Was she shown them setup in wax before they were fitted? did she like them then? Appearance wise I mean

fairsfair

Hi - thanks for your reply - I don't recall her mentioning being shown them first in wax.

Toothsmith

I would suggest that initially you make your complaints to the practice, and use it's 'Practice complaints proceedure'.

If you get no joy through that, the General Dental Council has a complaints service for private treatments. Details can be found here

http://www.gdc-uk.org/General+public/Reporting+unfitness+to+practise/Dental+Complaints+Service.htm

It would be extremely unusual for a set of private dentures (Or NHS ones for that matter) not to have a 'try in' stage where the patient gets to see what they will look like and approve them. I generally invite the patient to bring a friend or relative at that stage to give another unbiased opinion. Often people don't want to do this though.

It should be said that new dentures are one of the biggest dental minefields! It can be very difficult to make a set that a patient it instantly 'happy' with. There is often a very long 'bedding in' process.

welshdent

seconded on the mine field! So much of the work is out of the dentists hands yet we are the ones that get it in the neck when things arent quite right
I keep a chairside reline kit handy for all such eventualities!!!!

Toothsmith

There are often patients I'm tempted to recommend my colleague 'down the road' - "who makes superb dentures" and give the patient a £5 note for the taxi fare!

fairsfair

Thank you for the replies - interesting to get a perspective from dental professional point of view.

Do you think that the 'design' of the denture is subjective to the person making them? they really do make her look daft.

I know there are nightmare jobs in my profession to that I would rather pass on to my competitors to save the stress too.

However, I do also think that some are better than others at what they do and the service they provide.

Toothsmith

The 'design' is very much up to the dentist, the technician AND the patient.

I would be very surprised if there wasn't at least 1 try in session, and we don't know what was said in those sessions, whether your Mum said she liked them - we just don't know. It would be unlikely that they'd be finished off if your Mum said 'I hate them'.

When a set is new, a patient is often very conscious of them, and it's hard for the mouth to relax around them - which can often make the patient look like they're pulling all sorts of ridiculous faces. But as they get used to them, the face relaxes, and they begin to look a bit more 'normal'.

If, in that time a well-meaning friend or relative says "Good grief - you look like a horse!" then the patients confidence in the denture is totally destroyed, they always feel tense in them, and they will never be right.

I can think of a particular elderly lady's daughter that I came across a few years ago.

I could have cheerfully held her head under the canal for completely ruining a perfectly good set of dentures I'd made for her mother by saying 'You look just like someone from the Beverly Hillbillies!' She didn't - the daughter had just got it into her head that this would be a 'funny' thing to say to her Mum when she saw her with her new teeth!

brook2jack

Had your mum had her old set for many years? Full dentures are like comfy old slippers ... at their most comfy when very worn down and about to fall apart.

As dentures age the teeth wear down and patient and family get used to the worn down teeth which often dont show very much with smiling and talking and give a typical "shrunken face" look.

When making a new set normally you will build the teeth back up a bit which makes it difficult to get used to wearing the denture , since they only stay in with muscular control, and will be a bit of a shock to look at as ,in general, the patient will show alot more tooth.

Most dentures will need easing a few times in the early days and will feel very big and bulky in comparison to an old set.

There will have been a try in stage when your mum will have been shown the teeth set up and changes could have been made at that time if she didn't like them and most dentists will emphasise this at the time.

If knowing this your mum is still unhappy then the dentist should be given the chance to redress things. The problem is if you weren't in the surgery with her you don't know what was said at the time so if you get involved in the dispute at least give the dentist the benefit of the doubt as full dentures are always a challenge as we were never designed to wear great big bits of plastic and its only adaptation that allows us to!