Dentist vent.

BrassicWoman

I'd pop over to the health board and ask toothsmith.

Cakeguts

I would suggest than niece looks at her diet. Dental hygiene and toothpaste has improved enormously and 3 fillings at age 20 seems a lot. Dentures are available on the NHS but implants are not I believe? If niece continues with present diet it is going to cost her a lot more than £150 to keep a mouth full of teeth unless she won't mind have dentures. She could use this experience as a wake up call to look at what she is putting into her mouth.

fierystormcloud

ARandomMiser wrote: »

Dentists have been creaming off the system for years. As a kid the dentist we used had given me a mouth full of fillings by the time I was 12 (he had pretty much managed to fill every side and back tooth). While oral hygiene was not as big an issue back in the 60's I don't ever remember having toothache as a kid. The same dentist was later reprimanded over doing unnecessary work.

So now I always ask for a written estimate and reassurance that any work is actually required (even though I have private dental).

I am so sorry

Sadly, I have heard this tale from MANY people born before 1975. Lots of tales of dentists filling their mouths with amalgam purely to get money. I know half a dozen people who are 45+ who said if they had never gone to a dentist as a child, they would have had much better teeth.

One woman I know had every tooth filled that it was possible to fill by the time she was 20, yet she has a 'bite' where 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth actually clash, (at the front,) and no treatment was ever offered to her for this, (eg a brace,) despite her asking many times.

And now, the 2 bottom teeth have worn down from the 2 top ones clashing with them. In addition, she has had to have FIVE of the 'filled teeth' at the back 'crowned' because they have worn down and crumbled in the 30 years since she had them.

Horrific really.

daytona0 wrote: »

I got conned by an NHS dentist a while back. Changed dentist straight away!!

Basically, I paid the £20 or whatever for a checkup and got a plan of what needed doing. When I went a second time they had apparently "changed dentists" and insisted on charging me ANOTHER £20 just for another initial checkup!! So I begrudgingly paid and they checked again.... gave me the same plan of what needed doing.

So then I paid for band 2 treatment (£54) and they did the work fine, but on my penultimate visit they actually turned round and said "oh wait, our records show that you owe us £20 for your initial checkup"

Umm no I don't!!!

I sadly did not have proof of payment (lesson learnt, get receipts) and so I decided to make a third £20 payment just to get them off my back (they seemed like they would be the small claims court type).

I am so sorry to hear this. I also feel my niece has been royally ripped off. However, as she is an adult, she has to sort it herself. Me and her mother have offered to step in and go sort it (or try to!) but she said 'no no no.' Just that she will probably look for another dentist. As I said, I think we should all leave; and make him lose our custom!

ScarletMarble wrote: »

Next Thursday, I'm having three fillings done. One metal filling replaced as cracked and a bit crumbled away. Plus two white fillings on molars as my teeth don't have gaps. Got decay between two of them. I am in much discomfort.

The metal filling lasted 3.5 years. Had another white filling done then and the price hasn't changed.

My dentist gave me a Personal Dental Treatment Plan which looks like this



Plus gave me the pricing of each. I know how much to pay. Fortunately, this month and next, are council tax free months - no issue with paying.

This what the OP's niece should have been given. She may have signed something, which could been the above but wasn't told about this

Thanks so much! I will show her this, and say she needs to make sure she gets something like this next time!

DonnySaver

Our dentist has recently changed hands. I've been going there since the late 90's and always found the treatment I've received very good. However, today I have just been for my first check-up since the practice changed hands.....

I got in the chair, was asked a few questions, the dentist prodded about my bottom teeth and immediately said "you need a filling" and proceeded to tell me the pricing options available to me. I must have been in the chair 30 seconds at most and she never even checked my top teeth. £20.60 for 30 seconds work - you do the maths...

I've now been told it will be around £55 for an NHS filling or £95 for a nice white one.

Now, before you say "it must be time for you to have a filling - otherwise she wouldn't have said it", read on...

My wife went for the first time also since the new owner took over just a few weeks ago. After years of no bother and no pre-warning from previous dentist....guess what - new filling required at a cost of around £150.

Mother-in-law went last week - came out needing false teeth!

I'm just a bit suspicious that these new owners are taking their patients for a bit of a ride. For me personally, today I don't feel I got very good service and £20.60 for 30 secs work didn't represent very good value either. I used to get a clean and polish thrown in previously at least.

I feel a bit ripped-off. Now contemplating finding a new NHS dentist (not easy I know).

lincroft1710

Donny - I would be complaining to the General Dental Council about the possibility of unnecessary treatment.

Many years ago my dentist took on a new partner who said I needed a couple of fillings. I did not have the fillings done. 6 months later I saw my usual dentist for my routine check-up and he he made no mention of my needing fillings. From memory, the "new partner" left the practice fairly soon afterwards.

Sicard

fierystormcloud wrote: »

I am so sorry

Sadly, I have heard this tale from MANY people born before 1975. Lots of tales of dentists filling their mouths with amalgam purely to get money. I know half a dozen people who are 45+ who said if they had never gone to a dentist as a child, they would have had much better teeth.

One woman I know had every tooth filled that it was possible to fill by the time she was 20, yet she has a 'bite' where 2 top teeth and 2 bottom teeth actually clash, (at the front,) and no treatment was ever offered to her for this, (eg a brace,) despite her asking many times.

And now, the 2 bottom teeth have worn down from the 2 top ones clashing with them. In addition, she has had to have FIVE of the 'filled teeth' at the back 'crowned' because they have worn down and crumbled in the 30 years since she had them.

Horrific really.



I am so sorry to hear this. I also feel my niece has been royally ripped off. However, as she is an adult, she has to sort it herself. Me and her mother have offered to step in and go sort it (or try to!) but she said 'no no no.' Just that she will probably look for another dentist. As I said, I think we should all leave; and make him lose our custom!



Thanks so much! I will show her this, and say she needs to make sure she gets something like this next time!

This is so true and my mouth is full of fillings.

In the old days dentistry used to be done by barbers but I think in the case of my dentist as a child he was once a butcher.

brook2jack

This is because fluoride was not generally available in toothpaste in the U.K. before the early 70s. Many more fillings were done then because here was lot more decay about. In the 70s 40% of people had false teeth by the time they were in their thirties.

Studies have shown a 75% decline in decay rates from the 70s onwards. Unfortunately no dental work lasts forever so the "heavy metal brigade" of people who have had many fillings are now approaching the age where they need a lot of complex work as their fillings/crowns/bridges start to fail.

Children's decay rates were falling well until fairly recently when the UK habit of snacking and drinking sugary drinks has caught up with them . The average UK child eats more than 7 times a day. Even fluoride toothpaste cannot cope with that level of sugar consumption.

MothballsWallet

Sicard wrote: »

Me too. I still remember his name, Mr Haldren. He was like Hitler to kids. At least the many fillings are still in place after 50+ years.

I'm sure that the orthodontist I had to see about my braces when I was younger had been kicked out of the Gestapo for cruelty (because even they have a limit).

His chair-side manner was really abrupt and he made himself out to be a right arris hole.

He'd mellowed out the final time I had to see him, so perhaps enough people had complained about his attitude (even the receptionists seemed to be aware but couldn't really say anything).