Oasis dental practice

havaska

I work for a small practice and don't have any connection with Oasis but I do know people who work there, and they do their very best.

I'd just like to make it clear here like all my fellow colleagues here - please don't tar everyone at Oasis with the same brush.

It is a big multi-practice company that employs lots of different people. Some of them will be bad, some of them very good. If you aren't happy with the dentist you are seeing then change - chances are someone else there will be more suitable for you.

To the original poster - you should make your concerns clear to the practice, they can't do anything about it if they don't know that you are upset. From what I've read, it appears to me to be a case of someone being rude and not having a great manner rather than anything else

McKneff

And as always, we only have one side to the stories on here.

jaimefay

I tried to register with my local Oasis dentist when we moved. I'd checked on NHS Choices, they were listed as being fully wheelchair accessible, so I thought I'd be fine (I use a power wheelchair to go any distance).

Nope. Plate glass window, with blinds shut. Next to it, a five-inch step flush with a narrow, heavy-looking door, with a handle that was both badly placed and badly shaped for anyone with hand problems (that, in this instance, would be me. Yes, I'm basically a complete wreck).

They had the standard 'wheelchair symbol' buzzer on the front, so I tried it, thinking they might have an accessible entrance round the back/portable ramp or something. Nope. No response, even when after a few minutes I got fed up and leaned on the bell. Closer inspection revealed an unlit LED - some !!!!! had turned the damned thing off. Dead useful.

I applied my extremely heavy boot to their plate glass window for a reasonable period of time. The blinds moved - I didn't actually see a human being but as I'd been banging for a while I'm pretty sure someone must've moved them - but no-one bothered to actually come out and speak to me.

Asked NHS Choices to stop listing them as wheelchair accessible - their answer was 'well, Oasis say they are, so there!'

Complete fail, as far as I'm concerned.

Especially as I ended up being taken on by the Special Needs Dental Team because of my access needs who are so busy it's at least four months between appointments, cos that's as close as they can make them, so my teeth are still bloody excruciating. *grumbles*.

Oh, and I *have* one of those 'extremely rare syndromes' which cause weak teeth and fragile gums/mucous membranes - Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. Dentists have frequently lectured me on how wrong I am about my own body before snapping off a chunk of my tooth/ripping my gums while prodding about. Listen to your patients, you don't know everything, dental people!

brook2jack

Whilst ehler danlos itself causes problems like failure of anaesthetic to work, abnormal tooth movement and problems with the jaw joint it itself doesn't cause problems with teeth. Unfortunately some people with ED also have dentinogenesis imperfecta which is one of the rare syndromes I mentioned earlier.

I would mention the oasis practice to the local disability forum if you have one. In our area they inspect practices and help us make adjustments like waiting room chairs of the right height with arms and where to buy foldable ramps for the front door.

However we cannot afford as a practice the money for all adjustments e.g. special dental chairs that allow someone to stay in their wheelchair and the community dentist has that equipment equipment unfortunately also the waiting list as they are increasingly overworked and underfunded.

AndysDad

From my experience all the dentists I have seen seem to be more interested in making money out of you instead of being interested in your dental healthcare.Everytime I go they want to put crowns and bridges in instead of doing filling which I'm sure would be suffienct and have been in the past and why do they take X-rays every visit when I've read that they should only on average be necessary every 2 years.Perhaps that's why I see so many Mercedes/BMW's outside their practice.