NHS Private 'cosmetic' treatments BEWARE

mebemem

This post is to all of those who have or are perhaps considering treatment advised from your local NHS dentist that private cosmetic treatments are required.

The following has been written due to my own experience and is no shape or form meant to be derogatory to NHS dentists and the treatments they provide as I myself am a firm supporter in the NHS. Which in hindsight has had a large part to play in why I found myself in this predicament in the first place.

Start of dental problems
Broke my two adult front teeth in half when I was a child.
Repaired by using dental filler NHS dentist
Repair lasted uninterrupted and without any additional tweeking required for well over 15 years. Fantastic credit to the NHS dentist who treated me.

- Front right tooth broke slightly from eating a peach and my tooth met its match with the kernal and broke just a little. Nothing too noticeable but if left untreated would get worse.

- NHS dentist advised that I have the filler removed and replaced with veneers as they would not repair just one tooth, it had to be both at the same time even though the other tooth was perfectly fine. Unbeknowns to me, advice given was inaccurate and the tooth would be repaired on the NHS as a medical repair and not cosmetic.
(Remembering previous advice given by my first dentist, I believed the advice to be true and considered veneers to be the more sustainable option for the foreseeable future.)

- I then proceeded with preparation for dental treatment under the label of 'Private Cosmetic treatment' with my NHS dentist. Reassured my dentist was a qualified cosmetic dentist. No written documentation nor did I sign anything to consent the following- should the worst happen the customer would be held accountable for Laboratory fees and any other expenses incurred by the dentist.

-I willing obliged to pay half costs upfront and half on completition. At the time of veneer prep, the dentist removes a little of your tooth in order to adhere the veneer in place. My dentist took too much off my original teeth, to the point where I literally have stumps for teeth, worse than when I broke them as a child. I have since found out that my teeth are very healthy and did not require such an intrusive treatment those points are very much me just having a rant. So going back to original train of thought....

- Dentist used wrong cement on my teeth and then had to remove the first veneer holding me, the patient accountable for the costs incurred to have another veneer replaced. When I voiced concern over having to pay effectively for three veneers and contacted what I believed to be a regulatory board B.D.A who are there to help people I recieved an aggresive letter from my dentist notifying me that she contacted them after I had spoken with them. Since then I have managed to recoop my looses however, I was left with exposed and damanged teeth as a result of trusting an NHS dentist and their ability to care/offer support/advice for the patient should anything go wrong

After the experience I decided to save for private treatment which will cost £2,000+ to fix. I am still in the process of tracking down organisations/regulartory boards who should be there in the worst case scenario to protect patients and their health. Where are the regulatory boards who see patients as consumers, with consumer's rights when they feel as though they have been grossly missold a product on having good faith in the abilities of a qualified practitioner in their given field. There is too much grey area for NHS / NHS private treatment. A dentist can go on a weekend course and obtain certain credentials to perform cosmetic treatments but that does not make them trained in obtaining an aesthetically pleasing result. Once I have obtained my records from the dental practice Ill post photos for you all to have a look because I feel that more people need to be made aware of the loop holes involved in this particular type of treatment BEFORE signing up to it. Cheap fix in the short term, long term costs a lot more.

The worst part of all of this is that I know I am not alone in this scenario, there are hundreds of cases just like it where the patient, who believes they have consumer rights when it comes to health care have no provisions in place to support them should anything go wrong. I am greatful that my health was not damanged to an irrepairable stage, just a few exposed nerves ,unsightly filler coverings over two stumps for my front teeth.

bromleymum

I get a little confused with your post but are you saying that you were charged for three veneers, rather than the two required, because your dentist incorrectly cemented the veneer? Obviously that is totally unacceptable but I can't imagine a decent dentist ever charging you for their mistake. Was there a break down in communication?

My dentist is fabulous and after fitting crowns across four front teeth, happily replaced two of them as I wasn't happy with the length a few months later (for no cost). They did cost the price of a week in Spain in the first place but you have to live with them every day for at least ten years, so you have to be happy.

As regards drilling your teeth down to stumps, I know this is necessary for crowns but always assumed you didn't for veneers. I would have preferred veneers but had to opt for crowns as, like you, I had broken my teeth in a childhood accident and had the old fashioned NHS fillers in for a long time until it started to crumble.

There are some much more dental savvy posters out there that will hopefully give more advice.

mebemem

bromleymum - Yes, my dentist tried to make me accountable for her mistakes. It was only after a lengthy process of contacting Dental Complaints Service and a long winded investigation that I no longer had to pay for her mistake.

In regards to drilling down - expected only for crowns, my teeth were healthy even though they were broken in half there was enough of the tooth left for them to be covered without so much of an aggresive treatment. At the time of reading up on veneers before proceeding with it, I did find you get what you pay for however I had faith in my NHS dentist and her abilities to provide suitable results without having to go over the £1000 marker until I could afford the more expensive porcelain laminate veneer with skilled technicians and accredited members of the british cosmetic dental association. Moral of the tale is - request a full and detailed treatment plan which (at patients request) includes any hidden costs they may be liable to pay for. Nothing was clear upfront about lab fees being the patients responsibility should anything go wrong, it was verbally said that they are included in the price.

As you have rightly said, it was unacceptable and I was not prepared to pay for it. To add insult to injury the dentist prolonged it for a long as they could. Even to this day I have not been reimbursed for the outstanding lab fees, only partially refunded.

In regards to communication breakdown, the post above was poorly written as I was writing it off the back of spending hours this morning looking for the right chanels to take the complaint further than the Dental Complaints Service in terms of patient care, complaints proceedure within the practice and lack of ownership taken.

mebemem

So in a nut shell, I was hacked off with the lack of information, support and advice out there for NHS patients who have had to opt for a private treatment in house of a NHS practice. The NHS does not accept responsibility for these treatments and by the looks of things No one does. Its a loop hole exploited by dentists looking to make £600+ of the back of incorrect treatment plans to a patient who does not need them. In my case, at the time I wasnt working either so it added to the stress of it all that no one was prepared to even acknowledge the mess the dentist made of perfectly healthy teeth just to make a quick buck.

paddyrg

I don't think this has anything to do with the NHS - you elected to have some private work done, and elected to use the same dentist as you (luckily) have for NHS work. But the point you wanted to have private work done is the point this has nothing more to do with the NHS. Or am I missing something?

Toothsmith

This has nothing to do with any system under which detistry is provided.

It is simply an unfortunate experience of a bad dentist. There are good and bad dentists in all systems.

Have you tried a complaint to the General Dental Council? They're the dental regulatory body. The BDA is more of a dentist's organisation.

No-one can turn back the clock and make these incidents not happen. Even with good dentistry, the fact that these teeth were damaged would mean that they would deteriorate anyway.

True, the deterioration has been worsened and accelerated by poor dentistry, but by how much is impossible to say for sure.

Your case might be easier to deal with if you had a specific and realistic outcome which you wanted to achieve from your complaint.

From the sound of your post you seem to be on some sort of idealistic crusade.

You will (unfortunately) never be able to rid the world of every bad dentist.

But ultimately, you are right. You do need to look carefully for the person to provide your dental care.