Dentists - how can you spot a con?

brook2jack

£160 a corner for tyres though??????

andygb

welshdent wrote: »

Brook you must be telling porkies cos all dentists are money grabbing so and sos that drive ferraris. I know its true cos someone told me.

I drive a nice mini cooper diesel because the 50 miles driving I do make it cheap to run in comparison to other cars! Incidentally the same model car that my neighbour has working as a nurse.

That is an interesting comment, just come back because my PC has been playing up (More money to spend I suppose:().
The current dentist where my wife went, had two cars in the staff parking bays - one Ferrari 360 and a newish 6 series BMW.

welshdent

I think what people chose to spend their money on is irrelevant to be honest. If you know where to get decent finance deals you can drive whatever the hell you like nowadays. Car sales is all about making a car affordable for someone to drive it. They would go out of business if they couldnt do this.

brook the tyres are indeed a pain! THankfully my rear ones dont wear so quickly!

brook2jack

The question though wasn't about whether there should be high end practices catering for people who choose to spend their money on dentistry, but about the best way to gauge a dentists ethics was by looking in their car park!

The richest dentist I know drives fabulous cars and lives ,literally in a mansion. He made his money in property dealing but continues to work in Dentistry because it feels like a more worthwhile job though it brings in a fraction of what he earns on property and share dealing. On the carpark scale he would be one step above a cockroach .

lynseydee

justjohn wrote: »

I don't wish to get into an arguement. I can only give my opinion based on my experience. Isn't that what a forum is about - to share views and experiences offer opinions. Perhaps I should start all my posts with IMHO.....

I have a phobia of dentists and because of this I had not been for over 15 years. When eventually I HAD to go due to severe toothache. I was surprised at the treatment I got from the NHS dentist. Although I was seen as an 'emergency' patient they took a lot of time and trouble to put me at ease and even went through all my options should I want treatment for the rest of my teeth (before I lost them altogether - the dentists words). I explained what an effort it was to get to the dentist as I was petrified and only ever went when I was in pain and HAD to go. However given their fantastic 'service and treatment' I bit the bullet and went back.

Now bearing in mind this is an NHS only dentist. I get 1 hour appointments as standard as it takes 30 mins to calm me down and get me in the chair! Over the last 8 months I have had 3 extractions, and 6 fillings (2 of which require Root canal treatment which was done over 4 appointments (each one 1 hour and 15 mins long). I paid the princely sum of £350 for ALL this treatment. I need to go back and have an 'extreme' scale and polish now and to be honest that is scaring me more than all the treatment I had, but I will go back as I don't want all the effort they have put in to go to waste not to mention all the stress I have gone through!

Ok so maybe I have the best NHS dentist in the country and not all are like that, but that is my point - you don't necessarily get what you pay for. I received a top class service for a fraction of what I could have paid to a private dentist who may not have been anywhere near as good or as patient. You get good and bad NHS dentists and good and bad private dentists. Just because you pay more doesn't mean you get better treatment.

Hi Justjohn

How did you go about finding your dentist? Like you I hadn't gone to the dentist in about 15 years and the dentist I saw was brilliant. Fortunately I didn't need to have anything done. For various reasons it was about 3 years when I eventually went back for a checkup and my previous dentist has retired. The dentist I saw was nice enough but not like the dentist I saw previously.

welshdent

lynsey if you ring your local health board/pct they should be able to direct you to a practice accepting new patients

brook2jack

But ask family , friends , work colleagues if they know a dentist who is good with nervous patients. Websites,carparks, etc are not a good way to choose a practice is you are nervous. Follow toothsmiths link for advice about finding a practice. Try https://www.dentalfearcentral.org who may have some suggestions about local practices.

Pennylane

The only one of Toothsmiths suggestions I agree with is No. 1.

"Get recommendations from friends/family/neighbours.":j

Toothsmith is a private dentist. If you can afford a private dentist and have transport to get around to look at all these practices then you might be happy to consider No. 2 "Once you have a short list VISIT the practices - don't just phone. Go on the pretext of getting a Practice leaflet."

If you live in a rural area or don't have transport then that's not really feasible. If you have to go NHS then your choice is often very limited.

Toothsmith makes it sound like you have a casual old wander in, stick your head round the dentists door and give him/her the once-over. Check out the hygienist and the nurses while you're about it. I don't think so!:rotfl:

No 3 "Assess helpfulness of staff & level of facilities." So you go in and the receptionist looks clean & tidy and is polite - that's about as much of an assessment as you can do really. As for facilities ... like what are we supposed to ask? Do you have drills? Are there toilets? What colour is the stuff we swill our mouth out with?;)

No 4 "Only book initial appt when you find a place you are happy with". Not if you've got bad toothache!

brook2jack

The moral of the story is if you wait until you have toothache you will have no choice but to see the dentist who can fit you in.

Good dentists ,particularly those who are good with nervous patients often don't have free space for casual emergencies. Therefore start looking before you have problems. Establish a relationship with a dentist so you can build you confidence rather than your first visit being seeing a total stranger when you are stressed and in pain.

When you go in are staff stressed ,phones constantly ringing? Are there disgruntled folks complaining about wait/costs.
Is there downstairs surgeries important if you have a child in a buggy or limited mobility. Is there a hygienist? Is the waiting room child friendly. Do the staff seem friendly and well informed. How easy is it to park and how close important if limited mobility, is there public transport nearby. Ask to go to the loo and check is that clean and tidy.

The practice leaflet has to be available in nhs practices and will tell you about dentists and services provided something the nhs website which is often hopelessly out of date fails to do.

There is a wealth of info you can get from visiting that web info won't give you.

Pennylane

To illustrate - we moved to a new NHS practice a while back and, since it was brand new the place was obviously spotless. Good start. The receptionist was fairly pleasant, nothing special but OK.

So at that point if you go by Toothsmiths suggestions you'd think you had found your ideal dentist practice. No! I got in and the dentist was very rough, had no chair-side manner whatsoever and was not helpful at all. The dental nurse sadly needed a little dose of mouth freshener too.

A few years ago I was referred by my own dentist to a NHS clinic which specialised in treating nervous patients and which did sedation. I can truthfully say that this place was the surgery from hell. It was grubby, the staff were unhelpful and I picked up an infection in there which caused me a month of misery afterwards. They did not allow time for my sedation to wear off and I had about 10 mins recovery. The nurse told my DH he could take me home and he "walked" me outside to the car. Propped me against a wall, opened the car door, turned round and I was in a heap on the floor.:eek: I then slept the whole 30 miles home and he and my daughter had to lift me out of the car and up the stairs to bed.