Is There a Dentist In The House?

competitionscafe

No wonder you are "SeriouslyStressed" - sorry I can be of no help whatsover, but as someone who had a much more minor problem (broken tooth & fillings fallen out and still need more work - I gave up and went private - I think the £££££ was more painful than the treatment!!) you have my sympathy. Hope you get something sorted soon and I am sure the dentist or others will be along with some more helpful advice soon....... Most important thing is to get something done as it's not going to improve if left...... Hope someone comes along with some advice for you soon.

Toothsmith

Ok - you do need a fair bit doing!

have you tried contacting your local PCT? They are the people who's responsibility it is to find you a dentist on the NHS.

It is worth doing, as they often have 'secret' lists of dentists accepting NHS patients!! Crazy I know, but the current regime finds newspaper pictures of patients queuing around the block a tad embarrassing, and so PCTs are at pain of death if things happen on their doorstep - so the often keep such details secret from the general public and only relaese information when people actually call them.

If a dentist has an NHS contract, and is accepting NHS patients, then your dental condition SHOULD be immaterial. He is duty bound to fix you up.

Now this may well be in the cheapest and most time efficient way possible - so could mean a few extractions and a partial denture, but it would restore you to reasonable function and appearance, and be better than you are at the moment.

What he may NOT do, is tell you that anything you NEED is only available privately.

He can offer private alternatives to NHS options, but if he should say anything is NECESSARY, then he must provide it on the NHS.

If NHS really cannot be found, then you will need to do a bit of legwork.

There is a huge misunderstanding of private dentistry.

People think NHS=Cheap, Private = expensive. That NHS has a fixed price and so does private. Nothing is further from the truth, especially these days.

It's a bit like resturants. If you cant find a McDonalds, you don't assume everything else is going to cost the same as Gordon Ramsey's resturant in Claridges! It isn't.

The same with private dentistry. There are plenty of private dentists out there operating at not much above NHS prices.

The thing with dentistry is that the expensive thing is the time in the chair. Expensive places tend to take more time and operate on less appointments during the day. As prices come down, the place has to be a bit busier in order to cover the overheads, so it will be a bit harder to get appointments quickly, there may be a bit more of a wait in the waiting room each visit etc etc.

But - Like a decent pub resturant - some very decent dentistry can be had in these places without it costing the earth.

Visit a few practices, get some fee guides, and I'm sure you'll be plesantly surprised.

Also, several places now offer low-cost or even 0% finance. That means you could get the treatment done, and pay it off monthly at a reasonable rate.

Good luck.

SeriouslyStressed

Hi Toothsmith GULP.

managed to contact PCT...... they have ONE dentist that can look at me...

Unfortunately..... he's the one that gave me a phobia of dentists in the first place! He used to work in our town, but has now relocated into the nearest city to our town.

Alan "The Butcher" Price.

He's well known to jump straight on the 'we'll pull em out' wagon.

My last encounter with him was horrific, he'd not numbed me up successfully but continued anyways, saying I'd had three shots of lidocaine and i was just imagining it. That was for a lost filling and he drilled into the pulp, then poked that pointy utensil in the and dug around..... absolute agony! I was sweating and shaking with so much pain on the verge of passing out. Also, he uses those keep your mouth open ratchet things cranked right open so you cannot swallow properly, and he's not too clever with the vaccuum and would'nt let me do it. I was gagging.

I know from previous experience with others that my gums/nerves are a little unusual and it can take quite a few shots in exactly the right places to get me numb ( up to 5 )

I've not said yes. There's still the 20 odd mile trip each way to sort out.
I dont want to end up with those horrible plasticy looking falsey's, OMG... could my self esteem GET any lower?

Crown

Hi, I too have had to finally go to the dentist after getting a naggiong toothache. I am going back on Wednesday for a full check up but Im worried sick how much it is going to cost.

I know I have a lot of problems with my teeth as although im not got any phobia of the dentist I just have not been able to go for years on my low income.

When it comes to dentistry in the UK it is like a 3rd world country.

TurnaroundSue

Hi Toothsmith - I have posted on another forum re dentists and you were very helpful, but one thing I forgot to mention was that my local dentist said that I could get my veneers/crowns done on the NHS, but my white fillings couldn't as the NHS doesn't do them. She suggested that I therefore go private for all my teeth and get them done in one place. My question is, would it be possible to have the NHS deal with my crowns/veneers and a private dentist look after my fillings? Also you mention above about shopping around - does that mean therefore that each time you go to a dentist you firstly have to have a check up?

Toothsmith

SeriouslyStressed wrote: »

Alan "The Butcher" Price.

Formerly of 'The Animals' and writer/singer of the well known 60s hit 'Simon Smith and his Amazing Dancing Bear'?

Serious dilemma you have there!

Toothsmith

Crown wrote: »

When it comes to dentistry in the UK it is like a 3rd world country.

No it isn't.

There are lots of excellent dental facilities in this country.

You just have to pay for them.

The lie is that there is an NHS dental service in this country. As Gordon Brown found out last week!!

Toothsmith

TurnaroundSue wrote: »

Hi Toothsmith - I have posted on another forum re dentists and you were very helpful, but one thing I forgot to mention was that my local dentist said that I could get my veneers/crowns done on the NHS, but my white fillings couldn't as the NHS doesn't do them. She suggested that I therefore go private for all my teeth and get them done in one place. My question is, would it be possible to have the NHS deal with my crowns/veneers and a private dentist look after my fillings? Also you mention above about shopping around - does that mean therefore that each time you go to a dentist you firstly have to have a check up?

Yes - you could have one thing done in one place and the other thing done in another, but you would have to pay a check-up fee to both dentists. It's not really the way I'd recommend it be done either. Different dentists have different ways of doing things, and, to be honest, you want as few people mucking about inside your mouth as possible!!!

When I recommend shopping around, I don't mean have a check-up in every place you look at, but visit practices rather than just ringing up to see if they can see you.

By visiting a place, you will get an idea of the atmosphere of the place, and get a good indication of the friendliness and helpfulness of the staff. You will be able to pick up a price guide, and judge if the prices are worth the service you will receive.

When you find the place you think you will be happy at, book the check-up appointment.

SeriouslyStressed

I've still got around £10,000 available credit if you can do it all in less than a month but that'd just be wrong and totally !!!!!! Turpin, no doubt winding me up in the clink too. ah well.... life's a !!!!!.