Dental check up

rockey100

I hate dental check ups! Should be a quick check and wash!

summerlady_2

brook2jack wrote: »

If you feel your dental health check is not what you expect then is any treatment you have likely to be what you expect?
QUOTE]



Do you mean that I would lack confidence in any dental work carried out? I think that the dentist is basically good.


The first time I had a minimal check up was about three months after I had completed treatment - two crowns.


I didn't feel that this was an issue as the dentist was familiar with the state of my teeth and mouth at the time, having had various X-rays and examinations during the treatment process.


The position has now changed - I haven't had any substantive treatment lately and still have the quick peer round with a mirror and out.


As an NHS patient (although I paid privately for the crowns) I wasn't sure if a government decree limited the time and work to be spent on check-ups - which is why I asked for input from a dentist who would have all the facts.


At the time I moved here, this was the only dental surgery taking NHS patients. I don't know the situation now, but I live on a very restricted income in a rather prosperous area and there are always plenty of private/employer-subsidised dental patients around.


However, now I know I have the information I can enquire about changing again.

WibblyGirly

My dentist asks about any new meds, any pain/discomfort/changes since the last visit. I put some funny glasses on then sit in the chair. She checks in my mouth saying numbers/letters as she looks then tells me the verdict. She doesn't go feeling all over my neck etc like Toothsmith states. I'm probably in an out in less than 5 minutes.

brook2jack

There is a very good reason the government doesn't prescribe how long dental treatments should take as it would expose how grossly underfunded NHS dentistry is.

The average payment a practice gets in England , including patient payments, for a band one treatment which includes check up , x-rays, hygiene treatment , and a few other things besides is £24.

A cheap practice in a cheap area costs upwards of £140 an hour , per room, to run. The practice gets no other money towards running expenses training,equipment, wages etc except what it earns through fees.

The economics of NHS dentistry are such that you have to be quick to survive.

If the government determined exactly how long a check up , the associated paperwork and decontamination and sterilisation process for each patient should take then they would have to adjust fees to a much more realistic level.

silvercar

As an NHS patient (although I paid privately for the crowns) I wasn't sure if a government decree limited the time and work to be spent on check-ups - which is why I asked for input from a dentist who would have all the facts.

There is no "government decree" on how much time a dentist spends with a patient, NHS or private. That is a decision that a dentist makes themselves.

Obviously, the dentist knows how much they will get from the NHS and the patient combined for a NHS check-up and how much they charge a private patient and can decide whether that influences the check-up they perform. There is also the loss-leader effect of performing a check up ie future better paying treatment may follow a good service provided at a check-up. At the end of the day, it is all a business and each dentist will have a business model they work to.

summerlady_2

I don't think that giving a duration would be very meaningful as different people work at different speeds.


My concern is what a check-up should comprise.


My dentist doesn't touch my teeth, gums or jaw in any way during a check up - the mirror is the only thing that goes into my mouth.


There is also no record of "upper right 5, crown" that all previous dentists have recorded every time. I don't know how necessary that it as the dentist would do the work anyway.


I mentioned the time the appointment took just as an illustration of how little was being done - a poke around the gums and gum margins with the prod thing would take more time than I was given. It is not pleasant but must give more information than a quick visual examination, otherwise no dentist would do it.


A dentist first alerted a close relative to a cancerous spot on his tongue (for which he was eventually successfully treated after thinking it was a persistent mouth ulcer) so I am aware that useful information can be gained by a visual information, but probably not all.

welshdent

If I'm charting and already have a baseline chart then I wouldn't re chart the upper crown either. I know it's there. I'm only interested in if it healthy still or failing. If it's failing why it's failing.