need dental treatment but i have no money :(

samwich1979

Toothsmith wrote: »

It doesn't sound like they're shafting you, it sounds like they're very busy and have tried their best to accommodate you.

It's you who have ignored it for 11 months until it started hurting.

Re-root treating a tooth often has a poor chance of success, so it's probably quite correct that a previous dentist thought it was not correct to attempt that. I would have thought that he would have offered to extract it though?

If it has now been 12 months of slowly festering away since then, extraction is almost certainly your only option.

I think it important that you get seen as soon as possible, and the £18 emergency fee is just something you need to pay this time.

I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but the charges and benefit boundaries are not set by dentists, and all we can do is advise patients. If patients don't take the advice, put things off, and only make it a priority when they're in pain, then it will be a bit dearer when it all blows up

I didnt just leave it until it hurt, i wasnt given any reasonable options to sort the tooth out within my budget apart from extraction which the dentist didnt recommend as it is my first lower molar and vital to chewing etc and im only 34 and gaps in that area are not good.
It was either leave it or pay £350+ for RCT with a specialist or waste £200 on a new crown with posts which would also probably fail due to there being a small shadow at the tip of the root and not much tooth to hold it.(Hence why re-RCT was mentioned)
I could afford neither option.

I find the NHS system of paying dentists awful as they are now unwilling to take on ANY complicated work, you always have to go private or suffer and lose teeth. Its not on.

If our government found ways of making treatment more affordable for those who are struggling for money then there wouldnt be so many people having to make do with painkillers and a bit of good luck to function.

samwich1979

Just to add im now waiting until Monday to see the dentist i am to be registered with.
I cannot get to the emergency practice nor can i afford two lots of fees from two different dentists.
I'll just got straight to the dental hospital if my face swells any more.

Hudson1984

samwich1979 wrote: »

I didnt just leave it until it hurt, i wasnt given any reasonable options to sort the tooth out within my budget apart from extraction which the dentist didnt recommend as it is my first lower molar and vital to chewing etc and im only 34 and gaps in that area are not good.
It was either leave it or pay £350+ for RCT with a specialist or waste £200 on a new crown with posts which would also probably fail due to there being a small shadow at the tip of the root and not much tooth to hold it.(Hence why re-RCT was mentioned)
I could afford neither option.

I find the NHS system of paying dentists awful as they are now unwilling to take on ANY complicated work, you always have to go private or suffer and lose teeth. Its not on.

If our government found ways of making treatment more affordable for those who are struggling for money then there wouldnt be so many people having to make do with painkillers and a bit of good luck to function.

Just for the record here - i'm with a private dentist, i'm 28 and had my lower molar removed cost £45 yep it's private so don't take that cost for granted but why skint yourself crowning a tooth etc being a private patient doesn't neccesarily mean you keep your teeth.

I would recommend joining us on the DFW side of things as if you are above the wage threshold for help maybe something can be done so you can help yourself so things like this are more within your budget

samwich1979

brook2jack wrote: »

It's not the practice. The NHS changed the rules in 2006 and removed registration. You are only registered during a course of treatment.
NHS practices have to run at such a rate that generally even people who are under a course of treatment may have to wait for appointments , there isn't the capacity to see others as well.

PCTs have an obligation to run emergency treatment sessions for those not in a course of treatment but all of these are fee paying clinics as there is no discretion or budget to make them free. Without the patient charges being collected PCTs already in debt would go even further into the red.

This puts people on borderline incomes , like yourself in a difficult position, but the practice have no leeway it is NHS reforms that removed registration in order to improve access eg more people could be squeezed in to see the same number of dentists for the same money.

I really did not know they had scrapped registration in 2006 and i dont think my local PCT do either.

I was told in April if the last time i saw a dentist was a year ago im still registered with them therefore they MUST treat me, but obviously this is not the case and i thought the PCT were wrong.

I expect to be charged for treatment but not by an emergency dentist on a Friday then get whacked with another great big charge from my new dentist on the Monday. By anyones standards this is a bit much but when you are totally broke its an absolute joke! It would amount to approx £75 for treatment on ONE tooth!

Debrac

In the meantime try warm salty water to use as a mouthwash - it always helps me when I'm struggling with toothache. TCP applied to the surrounding gum is also one of my tips.

I really feel for you. As someone with an utter terror of seeing a dentist (and I'm not exaggerating), I've tried to ignore my own dental problems until I literally cannot cope with the pain any longer. I'm willing to try anything to postpone a visit to a dentist, but that's another story

Good luck with the financial side of things.

samwich1979

Hudson1984 wrote: »

Just for the record here - i'm with a private dentist, i'm 28 and had my lower molar removed cost £45 yep it's private so don't take that cost for granted but why skint yourself crowning a tooth etc being a private patient doesn't neccesarily mean you keep your teeth.

I would recommend joining us on the DFW side of things as if you are above the wage threshold for help maybe something can be done so you can help yourself so things like this are more within your budget

I too paid private for a few years when i still lived at home with my mum. £50 for a check up, £500 for the said crown which has fallen off and given me so much trouble only 5 years later.

So yes i know they are not really better than NHS at saving your teeth but they seem more willing to take on complicated cases, money is no doubt the factor but it annoys me that more cant be done to help people receive quality NHS treatment.

Toothsmith

samwich1979 wrote: »

I find the NHS system of paying dentists awful as they are now unwilling to take on ANY complicated work, you always have to go private or suffer and lose teeth. Its not on.

But the complicated work on poor teeth that have had lots of work done on them already is doomed to failure. Especially if you're only 34. That tooth has got to last you a long time - and it simply won't do.

That means it will be money down the drain for you, or money down the drain for the tax payer. NHS or private, it simply shouldn't be done.

If your dentist feels that it is essential for function that you have a tooth there, then he should offer you some sort of NHS option to provide a tooth there - maybe something like a Maryland Bridge, which is quite straightforward to provide, can work very well on back teeth if designed correctly, do very little damage to the supporting tooth, and (from the dentist's point of view) don't have very expensive lab fees.

If this is the only molar you have lost though, it probably isn't 'essential' for function. We don't need every tooth in our head, and can manage perfectly well without quite a few of them.

Obviously - I can't see you or exactly what's going on in your mouth. Your best advice will come from a dentist who can.

But if a dentist sees you on the NHS then they should be able to give you an NHS treatment plan that will maintain health and function in your mouth. This is often perfectly possible with simple treatment plans.

I would be very wary of any dentist telling you that the 'only' way is to have some treatment privately.

The NHS route may not be the very best A1 'ideal world' treatment plan, but it should be functional, keep you pain free and healthy.

NHS or private though, I would think very hard before making a fuss over keeping that tooth. even if some windfall enables you to pay for private treatment and keep it for now, I don't think it would be long before the issue of how to replace it will come up again.

brook2jack

The other thing is to have had so much work at your age and another tooth giving you pain means you need to chat with your dentist about the changes you need to make in your diet and cleaning to prevent further troubles.

90% of all dental treatment is entirely preventable.

The first start is to look at the number of sugar attacks you have a day. Keep them to no more than three a day and then sugar free in between meals. So no sugar , even a tiny bit, in tea and coffee, sugar free drinks and no snacks with sugar.

As the UK spends ,including patient payments , an average of £36 per year per person treated we as a country need to target that spending. Recent reforms , including the new nhs contracts being piloted, are veering towards decreasing complex treatment which costs the nhs alot of money to both place and maintain because it is necessary because of poor diet and cleaning . Instead in the new contracts more emphasis is placed on making people more responsible for their oral health and helping them to avoid treatment.

In Northern Ireland the cuts have gone even further and only very basic treatment is available.

I am not surprised you were poorly informed by your pct many have a very sketchy knowledge of dentistry. But registration has not existed in England and Wales since 2006 . It still does in Scotland and NI. The pct is responsible for your care and emergency treatment when you are not in the middle of a course of treatment.

I understand your difficulties with paying different practices but dentists are paid piecemeal for each bit of treatment, they are not paid anything other than this to keep a practice going. This means nhs practices are very very busy and cannot fit people not in a course of treatment easily.

Dental charges are government policy not dentists. A dentist has no choice in how much to charge and who to charge and what for , that is set centrally.

Racheldevon

You've had good advice from those that work in the field.

I wanted to add that you may find it useful to register with your local sure start children's centre if you haven't already. They provide a range of services, support and activities for families with children under 5 years - including the option for their staff to make referrals into the food bank scheme. They often have access to other local welfare trusts who can provide food vouchers, and other support. Have a look on google to find your nearest one.

MrsE_2

I think dental hospitals are free.

My dentists started a wisdom tooth extraction which he couldn't complete!!!!
Referred me to the local hospital dental unit whom it was taking days with.
I couldn't stand the waiting, so I took myself up to kings dental teaching hospital in London ( I'm from that area so I knew of it) queue up on the day, they extracted that afternoon. :-)

I don't even remember them charging me.