need dental treatment but i have no money :(

brook2jack

The problem is op requires a course of treatment and lives half an hour from a dental hospital. If the dental hospital accepts them for treatment , and there is no guarantee they will , they are put on a waiting list to be treated by students and then will have multiple appointments. The costs of travelling will soon outweigh the cost of treatment on the nhs particularly as appointment times are longer , restricted to what times are offered and as op works may very well end up with them having to take time off work.

thehappybutterfly

Can't help with your dental issues but you clearly need to fork out the money for treatment. In terms of managing on a limited budget for the rest of the month, why don't you head over to the OS money saving board - there's loads of money saving tips, cheap food recipes etc. Always useful advice for anyone wanting to cut back.

And also, I'm not one for advocating the use of credit cards but if you have one, use it. You can't not eat.

shandyclover

I know it's not the perfect solution for everyone, but a dental hospital was for my daughter.

She returned from a gap year needing a root canal, she'd always had reasonable teeth before, only having her first filling at about 14. I suspect her living on cheap and convinient sweets, and perhaps her becoming vegan at the same time had something to do with it.

She joined our local Oasis dental practice and began treatment, but whenever we asked for her to be treated on the NHS as she is a fulltime student, and not earning at present, we were told that particular treatment was not available on the NHS, or it was an emergency appointment so we must pay private fees. After paying out a substantial amount of money, her filling fell out and it seemed we were back to square one. To say we were unsatisfied with her treatment is an understatement. Exams were looming and daughter was in a lot of pain. I called up our local dental hospital and though DD had to spend a morning waiting she was seen right away, given emergency treatment, and then offered a course of treatment. Yes, it was tedious for her with an hour commute, and having to get time off uni to be at the hospital, and the travel costs were not cheap, but they were still cheaper than the dentist's private fees and most important of all DD said she felt 'listened to'. DD completed the course of treatment, tooth was saved, the student dentist did a beautiful job under supervision and took the time to advise her on better health habits.

We have since left our Oasis dental clinic, and joined a much better dental practice where our options are clearly explained, with no nasty suprises. I realise it is not the same everywhere, but it certainly seems to pay to look around and find a practice you are happy with.

samwich1979

shandyclover wrote: »

I know it's not the perfect solution for everyone, but a dental hospital was for my daughter.

She returned from a gap year needing a root canal, she'd always had reasonable teeth before, only having her first filling at about 14. I suspect her living on cheap and convinient sweets, and perhaps her becoming vegan at the same time had something to do with it.

She joined our local Oasis dental practice and began treatment, but whenever we asked for her to be treated on the NHS as she is a fulltime student, and not earning at present, we were told that particular treatment was not available on the NHS, or it was an emergency appointment so we must pay private fees. After paying out a substantial amount of money, her filling fell out and it seemed we were back to square one. To say we were unsatisfied with her treatment is an understatement. Exams were looming and daughter was in a lot of pain. I called up our local dental hospital and though DD had to spend a morning waiting she was seen right away, given emergency treatment, and then offered a course of treatment. Yes, it was tedious for her with an hour commute, and having to get time off uni to be at the hospital, and the travel costs were not cheap, but they were still cheaper than the dentist's private fees and most important of all DD said she felt 'listened to'. DD completed the course of treatment, tooth was saved, the student dentist did a beautiful job under supervision and took the time to advise her on better health habits.

We have since left our Oasis dental clinic, and joined a much better dental practice where our options are clearly explained, with no nasty suprises. I realise it is not the same everywhere, but it certainly seems to pay to look around and find a practice you are happy with.

I have found over the last four years the quality of dentistry has really fallen. I have been through 4 different practices and with 2 of them i have had fillings fall out weeks after they have been done and then had trouble finding somewhere decent that could replace them properly.
I think this is why im having pain from one of my upper molars now because the filling has been replaced so much it is just starting to crumble now.

Also i started getting sore gums etc when i was pregnant and took advantage of regular treatment for this while it was free so its not like i completely avoid the dentist and i have NEVER had such terrible tooth problems until 4 years ago. Didnt have a filling until i was 20 years old.

Its not always poor oral hygiene that ruins peoples teeth, poor dentists can also do this.

brook2jack

However there are changes you need to make to your diet and oral hygiene a root filling happens because the decay is so deep it kills the nerve off.

You obviously had some changes in diet and cleaning at twenty as many people do when they leave home and start to rely on different foods and snacking etc to keep up with a busy life style.

how much treatment you need has nothing to do with how often you visit the dentist , it has to do with how well you look after your oral health in the meantime.

As a family good dental habits will protect all of you from needing any treatment. Hopefully you are taking your two year old regularly to get the advice to stop them ever needing any fillings .