NHS Dental treatment complaint.

Swansong99

Hi, I was hoping for a bit of advice about a complaint I wish to make about the NHS treatment I have been getting for my child. He was referred to the Eastman dental hospital last September by our dentist however treatment is not expected to start until this May and in the mean time he is suffering from re occurring infections and a lot of pain. I also presume that he is far more likely to loose the tooth now than he was as the infections make it hard to complete the RCT successfully. What are my child's rights with regard to waiting times and the choice to have the treatment done else where at the NHS's cost? He was seen by a consultant in November at the Eastman Hospital and they thought a January appointment would be available but I think they must have lost his details causing this awful delay in treatment.

Many thanks for taking the time to read this.

dandelionclock30

If hes suffering could you take him to the dental hospital drop in direct? We have that in my town and its on a first come first served basis.
In my experience your experience is not uncommon, I was referred twice to the dental hospital in 1998 and never heard anything back.
I would be asking the dental hospital about their complaints procedure if they didnt sort it and saying that you would be taking the issue up with your M.P. as well.
I think in reality if you want it doing sooner then you will have to pay privatley. Good luck.

Toothsmith

Would agree with the above.

Ring and find out what's happening.

If they find they have missed you, and made a mistake, they will probably get you an appointment pretty quickly and get things started.

If you go down the 'complaint' road - that will be handled by a different set of people, and probably will lead to more delays rather than getting things sorted.

Communicate with them rather than complain at them, and it will probably work better.

Swansong99

Thank you for your insights.

mda99das

swansong, perhaps if you did not feed your child so much sugar and monitored his diet then you would not be in this position, you need to accept some responsibility rather than shifting the blame on a system that is overstretched!

dandelionclock30

Thats a rather judgemental comment. A person can have a trauma to a tooth which causes it to die, its not just tooth decay you know.

baby_frogmella

mda99das wrote: »

swansong, perhaps if you did not feed your child so much sugar and monitored his diet then you would not be in this position, you need to accept some responsibility rather than shifting the blame on a system that is overstretched!

Hear, Hear

Toothsmith

dandelionclock30 wrote: »

Thats a rather judgemental comment. A person can have a trauma to a tooth which causes it to die, its not just tooth decay you know.

I would agree with this comment. The Eastman is a top postgraduate dental teaching establishment. You would generally not referred some chavvy kid with galloping gobrot to The Eastman, and if you did, you would probably get a very curt letter back explaining that this child's needs were probably better met elsewhere!

I would be surprised if this particular patient was suffering from an excess of Coca Cola.

Swansong99

Shocking aggression really, thank goodness for intelegent comments from others ..... My son broke his tooth when he was about 6 running into a bench at school several years ago. Neither he nor his sibling have even one filling between them. Enough said I think.

Thanks to everyone for your time and help, our appointment has been brought forward. Fingers crossed for the little man, we might even get a full nights sleep around here some time soon

Toothsmith

If his tooth was damaged so young, then whatever treatment he gets, it's virtually certain that that tooth will be lost early.

It wouldn't be a bad idea to start saving for an implant for him. Implants wouldn't be placed until his head has stopped growing, so late teens/early 20s. In the mean time, keeping the damaged one going as long as possible or replacing it with something that will see him on to a time when an implant is possible (doing no damage to other teeth) should be the goal.

Swansong99

Toothsmith, thank you for your comment, I have to say I am not suprised especially after all the infections while waiting for this re root treatment. I shall do as you say and keep this tooth going for as long as we can and start saving.